'There is every chance that Rishabh could be international captain' : Ricky Ponting

Former Australian captain and Delhi Capitals' head coach Ricky Ponting has opined that Rishabh Pant will benefit from captaining in a high-pressure tournament like the Indian Premier League (IPL). Also, the world-cup winning Aussie does not doubt that the charismatic wicketkeeper-batsman will make for an excellent international captain shortly.

Pant made his captaincy debut for the Capitals last season after Shreyas Iyer got ruled out due to injury. He led his side to the Playoffs, where the Capitals lost back-to-back Qualifiers to CSK and KKR.

In an exclusive interview with Cricbuzz, Ponting said:

"With some experience in a role like this in such a high-pressure tournament like the IPL, you know, I've got no doubt in years to come there is every chance that Rishabh could be international captain. No doubt about it."

The former Aussie skipper went on to heap praise on Pant for his constant evolution as a cricketer and as a person during his stay at the Delhi Capitals.

He added:

"This is my fifth season now here and the evolution of Rishabh as a player and as a person has been quite dramatic. The last couple of years with some more responsibility in and around the Indian team, obviously captaining Delhi Capitals last season, there's been a lot of learning experiences for him." 

Ponting stated that Pant could emulate the same kind of success that Rohit Sharma has achieved at the Mumbai Indians.

‘Punter’ was the head coach of the Mumbai Indians when a young Rohit led them to their maiden IPL title way back in 2013. And, as someone who has seen the rise of Rohit very closely, Ponting sees the same qualities in Pant, which a young Rohit had at the time.

"I haven't thought about that actually. But I think they are actually quite similar. When Rohit took over at Mumbai, he was quite a young man as well and he just sort of started out in his international career. He would probably be about 23-24, similar age to what Rishabh over here," Ponting concluded. 

Pant's Delhi Capitals side will open their campaign against Rohit's Mumbai Indians on March 27.