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Ahead of the one-off series against Afghanistan, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir spoke on Rishabh Pant losing his vice-captaincy, saying that leadership roles are merely a byproduct of representing India. He also added that while Pant will not be asked to change his natural attacking game, it would be important for him to read the conditions.
Team India will take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test that would not be counted in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle from Saturday onwards, but would still nonetheless be an important one in deciding the team's long-term combination, players and adressing form woes with bat and ball. Pant is coming into the Test after a poor IPL season with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as a captain, winning just four out of 14 matches and scoring just 312 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 138.05, with just one fifty. Amid his poor outing in LSG colours, Pant lost his Test vice-captaincy for the series, and it was given to KL Rahul. Speaking on vice-captaincy change and Pant's game style during the pre-match presser, Gambhir said, "The responsibility is to play for India only and everything else, be it captaincy or vice-captaincy is a byproduct. When you start playing, you do not think about vice-captaincy or captaincy, you only think about playing well for India. In the end, everyone is judged on performances, be it me, the support staff or any player. That is what international cricket is all about." "As far as Rishabh is concerned, we will expect him to be the way he is. It is not like we will tell him to curb his game, but it is important to read situations in international cricket. What situation prevails at what time, what types of shots are demanded. It is not like we have told anyone not to play their natural game. Ultimately, irrespective of the format, the goal is to score runs and take wickets. You can do it your way, but it is important to read the situations," he said. (ANI)
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