Good Enough to Captain India's Best XI. Not Good Enough for India's ODI Squad.

On September 16, 2026, the BCCI announced two squads in one press release. The first was India's ODI and T20I squads for the West Indies tour starting September 27. The second was the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup against Ranji Trophy champions Jammu & Kashmir in Srinagar, starting October 1.

Rishabh Pant's name appeared in one of them. He will captain the Rest of India — the eleven assembled from India's best available red-ball talent — against a J&K side that just pulled off the greatest underdog story in domestic cricket history. It is, on paper, a significant honour. The selectors think he is the best man to lead the country's unofficial second XI.

They do not, however, think he is good enough to make the ODI squad. Not as the starter. Not as the backup. Not even as the wicketkeeper you carry in case someone pulls a hamstring in the warm-up. That spot went to Dhruv Jurel, who has played precisely zero ODIs.

Pant's last ODI was on August 7, 2024, against Sri Lanka in Colombo. He made 6 off 9 balls. That was over two years ago. In the 25 months since, India have played approximately 30 ODIs. Pant has been available for most of them. He has been selected for none.

This is not a case of injury-enforced absence. This is not a fitness issue. This is not even a disciplinary matter. Pant has been playing Test cricket for India throughout 2026 — he smashed his 100th Test six in Galle, he played both Tests in Sri Lanka, and he is trusted enough to captain a first-class side against J&K. The selectors simply do not want him in their white-ball plans, and nobody has said a word about it publicly.

Chopra is right: they have made up their mind. The question is when — and whether anyone bothered to tell Pant.

The selection of Dhruv Jurel as the backup wicketkeeper in the ODI squad is the detail that elevates this from an oversight to a policy decision. Jurel has never played an ODI. He has played four T20Is. His first-class credentials are impeccable — that Kargil-born century in Colombo during the Test series was one of the innings of the year — but his white-ball résumé at international level is a blank page.

And the selectors chose that blank page over 31 ODIs and 871 runs from Pant. Over a man who hit a century against England in the 2023 World Cup cycle. Over a keeper-batter whose audacity with the bat was supposed to be the future of Indian cricket.

This is not rotation. This is succession planning. The BCCI is building a post-Pant ODI setup while Pant is still 28 years old and very much available.

Here is the uncomfortable truth about Pant in 2026: he is a Test-match colossus and a white-ball ghost. In Tests, he has 100 sixes — the fastest Indian to reach that landmark — a counter-attacking genius who has won matches in Australia, England, and Sri Lanka that no other keeper-batter in history could have won. His place in India's Test XI is bulletproof.

But in white-ball cricket, the selectors have watched him struggle for consistency and decided the cost-benefit no longer works. His T20I career has stalled. His ODI career appears to have ended without anyone announcing it. He was not part of India's squad for the England ODIs or T20Is earlier this year. He was not picked for the Zimbabwe tour. He was not picked for the Afghanistan T20Is.

At some point, a pattern stops being circumstantial and starts being deliberate. Chopra identified that point this week.

The Irani Cup captaincy is, at best, a mixed signal. On one hand, it confirms the selectors rate Pant as a leader and as India's best Test-format wicketkeeper. On the other hand, it looks like a consolation prize — something to keep him engaged while the ODI squad flies to Thiruvananthapuram without him.

The fixture in Srinagar is historic. The venue is new. Pant will captain a squad that includes Sarfaraz Khan as vice-captain, and he will face a J&K team led by men who know their home conditions cold. It is an important match. But it is not an India match. And for a player of Pant's talent and ambition, the distinction matters.

The 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa is 14 months away. If Pant is not in the selectors' plans for a home bilateral against the West Indies, it is difficult to imagine what changes between now and then. R Ashwin said it two months ago on his YouTube channel: Pant is a "no" for his 2027 World Cup squad. The selectors, it appears, agree.

What makes this story uncomfortable is not the decision itself — selectors drop players all the time, and Jurel is genuinely excellent — but the silence around it. There has been no statement from the BCCI explaining Pant's omission. No chief selector press conference addressing the elephant in the room. No leaked briefing about fitness benchmarks or workload management. Just a squad list with his name missing and a deafening quiet.

Pant himself has said nothing publicly. His camp has been silent. The only people talking are pundits like Chopra, who have the luxury of saying what the board won't: this looks permanent.

Indian cricket has a long and inglorious history of quietly ending white-ball careers without telling the player. Yuvraj Singh learned it. Suresh Raina learned it. Bhuvneshwar Kumar learned it. Now Pant — at 28, in the prime of his athletic career, with a Test average north of 40 — may be learning it too. The selectors have decided. They just forgot to make the announcement.