The Board of Control for India (BCCI) is reportedly considering relieving Rishabh Pant of his Test vice-captaincy duties ahead of the one-off red-ball international against Afghanistan next month. According to PTI, the BCCI will have ‘serious discussions’ about Pant’s future when the national selectors meet in Guwahati on Tuesday (May 19) to select Test and ODI squads for the Afghanistan series.
The one-off Test will be played between June 6-10, followed by three ODIs on June 14, 17 and 20.
The report said the board has lost confidence in Pant’s leadership abilities after his back-to-back poor seasons with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL. LSG finished seventh in IPL 2025 and is currently tenth in the table in 2026 with only four wins
from 12 matches.
The report said the BCCI was not too impressed with Pant’s captaincy during the Test against South Africa in Guwahati last November, when he had to stand in for regular skipper Shubman Gill, who was injured.
The report quoted a BCCI source as saying that there was a concern within Indian cricket’s decision-makers about the impact additional responsibility has had on Pant, stressing that the country cannot afford to lose a player capable of changing Test matches with his aggressive batting.
According to this source, BCCI believes Pant’s batting judgment suffers when he is burdened with leadership duties, and the selectors may therefore prefer to allow him to play with greater freedom.
No more second ‘keeper in ODIs?
The PTI report also said that Pant’s place in the ODI set-up is also uncertain. He was the second wicketkeeper in the 2025 ODI series against South Africa before being ruled out of the 50-over internationals against New Zealand due to injury.
That would be due to his poor personal form. The left-hander has managed only 251 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 138.67. Previously, reports have claimed that the selectors could look at the in-form Ishan Kishan for the second ‘keeper’s role, behind the first-choice KL Rahul.
