Rishabh Pant could only make 58 runs in five knocks against South Africa, prompting many former cricketers like Aakash Chopra, Danish Kaneria, and Graeme Smith to question his place in the Indian cricket team. But head coach Rahul Dravid defended Rishabh Pant, who was also Team India's captain during the just concluded bilateral matches against the Proteas, saying that the southpaw was an “integral part” of his scheme of things moving ahead and there were no plans to drop him from the side for the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia. The legendary Sunil Gavaskar who himself criticised Rishabh Pant for his poor show against the Temba Bavuma-led team too echoed similar sentiments. Sunil Gavaskar was in favour of giving Rishabh Pant a long rope in T2OIs, arguing that he should feature in the upcoming T20Is against England and the West Indies.

“In the process (of playing an attacking game), he might go wrong in a few games but he remains an integral part of our batting line-up with the power he has, and the fact that he is a left-hander is important to us in the middle overs, he played some good knocks,” Rahul Dravid said in the post-match press conference.

“Personally, he would have liked to score a few more runs but it is not concerning him. Certainly, he is a very big part of our plans going ahead in next few months,” the former batting stalwart who has more than 13,000 Test runs to his name added.

Rahul Dravid also refused to make judgments about Rishabh Pant's leadership based on the South Africa series. As skipper, Rishabh Pant made an extremely bad start to his career, losing the first two games against the visitors, but then bounced back in style by powering India to victories in the third and the fourth to square the series at 2-2. The fifth match in Bengaluru was called-off due to rain.

“To bring a team back from 0-2 down and to level it at 2-2 and give us a chance to win was good. Captaincy is not about wins and losses only. He (Pant) is a young captain, growing as leader. It is too early to judge him and you don't want to do that after one series,” Rahul Dravid said.

“It was nice to see he has got opportunities to lead, keep and bat. He had a lot of load on him but gaining from that experience and credit to him for ensuring that we went from 0-2 down to 2-2,” Rahul Dravid insisted.

Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar said that Rishabh Pant's place in India's T20I squad wasn't under threat as he had the backing of head coach Rahul Dravid. Besides, Rishabh Pant isn't a player who takes too much pressure on him.

“I don’t think so. It's still early days. There are plenty of T20 matches still ahead. There is a T20I series in England, there is a T20I series in West Indies. I don't think there is going to be any pressure on him. He is not the kind of character who takes pressure, he goes out and enjoys his cricket. And that's the mindset that has brought him success,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.

“I will wait as there are still plenty of T20 matches before the World Cup. We can wait and then look at the form. We can decide anything but it's up to the selectors to take the final call,” Sunil Gavaskar continued.

While Rishabh Pant's batting failed to impress Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain was in awe of his captaincy.

“Very impressive, especially with the way he picked up from the first two matches where we felt it was not the right way to go as far as bowling changes are concerned. Clearly, he has learnt from the mistakes and rectified it. He has kept his cool. It's not easy being a wicketkeeper and a captain. It's a very tricky position to be in. He is learning and learning fast,” he explained.

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant said that there were many positives for Team India in the series against South Africa. The fightback the home team mounted after losing the first two matches was outstanding.

The way India's bowlers performed under pressure in the last two matches was praiseworthy. Talking about the batters, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, and Ishan Kishan showed that batters can be consistent and aggressive at the same time.

“It might get a little bit frustrating, but there are a lot of positives, especially the way the whole team showed character after the series was 2-0. We are trying to find different ways of winning matches, we are trying to play in a new way. Mistakes will happen, but we are going in the right way. I think this is the first time I've lost this many tosses at the same time, but it's not in my control, so I'm not thinking about it too much,” Rishabh Pant said during the presentation ceremony in Bengaluru.

“I can only think about giving my 100 percent as a player and captain. It is for you guys to decide on how I am doing as a player and captain, I can only focus on giving my 100 percent every time I go on the field and keep improving. From a team point of view it's now about winning the last Test match in England, and from a personal point of view I would like to contribute more to making my team win,” Pant concluded.