After KL Rahul was ruled out of the home T20I series against South Africa owing to a groin injury, Rishabh Pant was named as the skipper of the Indian cricket team while Hardik Pandya was elevated to the position of vice-captain. Rishabh Pant, the wicketkeeper-batter, has now thanked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for recognising his efforts and providing him with a chance to lead Team India in the series against the Proteas.

Rishabh Pant, however, wasn't happy with the circumstances in which he was handed the captaincy, considering his promotion only came after it was confirmed that KL Rahul won't be available for the series due to fitness issues.

Yet Rishabh Pant vowed to make the most of the opportunity and has promised to do everything in his capacity to beat the South Africans in the five-match series which begins at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.

Rishabh Pant also revealed that the feeling was yet to sink in as he wasn't expecting to lead the Indian cricket team but said that he was “feeling” good about his elevation.

“I haven't been able to digest it yet,” a happy Pant said in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

“It is a very good feeling; it did not come under very good circumstances, but at the same time I am feeling happy. I would like to thank the BCCI for giving me this opportunity to lead the Indian side. I will try to make the most out of it. Thank you to all my well-wishers for supporting me in my journey through the thick and thin of my cricketing career. I will look to make it a base and keep improving and keep making my life better and better each and every day,” he added.

While Rishabh Pant would be captaining Team India for the first time in his career, he has led his home state of Delhi in domestic cricket, namely in the Ranji Trophy.

Besides that, he has been the skipper of the Indian Premier League (IPL) outfit the Delhi Capitals for the last two seasons and the explosive left-hand batter believes his past leadership experience in both the Ranji Trophy and the IPL would help him while leading the national team.

“I think as a captain, it will help me a lot (leading in the IPL) because when you are doing the same thing again and again, you improve. I am someone who keeps learning from his mistakes and I think it will help me in the coming days,” he stressed.

In the past, fans and the pundits have seen Rishabh Pant shuffling his team's batting order according to the needs of the situation, particularly in the IPL. He has even promoted himself up the order in the Delhi Capitals line-up.

But Rishabh Pant declared that the chances of this happening against South Africa, at least in the first T20I in Delhi are minuscule, given the conditions at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

The scorching heat in the national capital has dried the pitch and it is expected to aid the spinners throughout the game.

Though Rishabh Pant hasn't made up his mind about where he will bat in the middle-order, one thing he was certain of is that India can't have too many floaters in the line-up.

“My batting order will depend on the conditions,” Pant said while addressing the pre-match press conference.

“In these conditions, we can't have a floating batting line because we play spinners day in and day out. But if we need a floating batting line up we will have it. Not much will change in the batting order as KL was to open. There will be one change. We don't have a lot of openers so you can guess what that will be,” Rishabh Pant explained.

Rishabh Pant was also asked about what it was like working with the legendary Rahul Dravid, who is now the head coach of the Indian cricket team, Pant disclosed that it wasn't the first time he was getting the opportunity to spend time with the ex-India captain.

Rishabh Pant had previously worked with Rahul Dravid during his U-19 days.

It was during Dravid's reign as coach of India's U-19 team in 2016 when the Uttarakhand-born batter came into prominence during the U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh as he slammed the fastest fifty in the history of the tournament, smashing a whirlwind 78 off 24 balls against Nepal.

Though India lost the final to the West Indies, Rishabh Pant continued to grow in stature before making his national team debut in 2017.

“It's is the best thing to have him around,” Pant said of Dravid.

“I have worked with him during the U-19 days, with India and the IPL also. So there is a lot of experience there. Lots of learning from him like how to conduct yourself on and off the field, game tactics,” Rishabh Pant concluded.

India's T20I squad: Rishabh Pant (captain/wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik