Team India's coaching staff headed by Gautam Gambhir hasn't quite backed Rishabh Pant in ODI cricket and he has only played one 50-over game since his return. After being on the bench for the first 2 games, Rishabh played the 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka in August 2024. He was selected for the three-match ODI series against England but stayed on the bench.

KL Rahul continued to keep wickets and he pipped Rishabh for a place in the playing XI in India's first game of the 2025 Champions Trophy against Bangladesh. Rahul scored a crucial 41 and played a big role in India's win. He looks set to play all matches while Rishabh is likely to stay on the bench.

Former India pacer Atul Wassan didn't seem to be impressed with Gambhir ignoring Rishabh and he seemingly accused him of ruining his career.

"You let Bangladesh score 228 runs after they were 35/5. Big teams will eat you up if you let them do that. Gautam Gambhir is picking his own team. I am just very upset that Rishabh Pant is not playing. I don’t know why. What is going on? Pant is a mercurial player, whom the other team is scared of. Because they know that he can win matches on his own," Wassan told ANI.

"KL Rahul is a great player. But I don’t know what they see in him that he is playing Test matches, ODIs, and everything. Rishabh Pant is on the bench now. This is how you ruin players. If you put a good player in a situation where he keeps thinking whether he will play or not, that player will go from hero to zero."

In 2020 too, Rishabh lost his ODI place to KL Rahul. He played only one ODI in 2020 and featured in 2 50-over games in 2021. Rishabh became a regular member of the final XI in 2022 but he has once again lost his place. Rishabh is a regular in Tests while Sanju Samson could give him a tough competition in T20Is.

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