Rishabh Pant’s West Indies ODI Snub: Aakash Chopra Says India Selectors Have Moved On

Former India opener and commentator Aakash Chopra believes that the Indian selection committee has made up its mind about Rishabh Pant’s immediate future in the white ball cricket. Recently, as the team India squad was announced for the upcoming West Indies series, Pant was left out from both the T20Is and the ODIs squad. However, he was named the captain for the Rest of India team for the Irani Cup.

The three-match ODI series against West India will begin on September 27 and the first match will be played at Thiruvananthapuram. The second and the third ODI will be played on September 30 and October 3 at Guwahati and New Chandigarh respectively. Chopra said, the different roles given to Pant in the red-ball and white-ball cricket shows how Indian management currently view the wicket-keeper batter.

A strange and unique case

Chopra said Pant continues to remain one of the most important players in Test cricket for India, but his place in the ODIs team appears to have changed. Speaking to Jio Star, Chopra said, “Rishabh Pant is a very strange and very unique case. While he is playing test cricket and is a very important member of the red-ball squad, he was stripped of his vice-captaincy duties there as well. But in ODI cricket, without playing, he has been bid goodbye.”

Chopra also pointed out that Pant being named the captain of the Rest of India team for Irani Cup is another sign of his importance in red-ball cricket.

Pant’s future in ODIs in India colours unclear

Rishabh Pant has never been a permanent member of India’s 50-over squad and he has played only one ODI in the last four years. He was also dropped from the T20 team after India’s 2024 T20 World Cup triumph. His omission from the India team for the West India tour comes at a time when India start their preparations for the ODI World Cup in 2027.

Shubman Gill will lead team India against the West India and the veteran duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are back in the 15-member squad, fully fit and raring to go. Dhruv Jurel and KL Rahul are India’s wicketkeeping options, even as the latter is named as the vice-captain for the series in place of Shreyas Iyer, who will be part of India's Asian Games campaign in Japan.

West Indies tour of India 2026 - Full Schedule