Rishabh Pant will join the team after January 8Image Credit source: PTI

Rishabh Pant is constantly in the headlines these days. While captaining Delhi, Pant is also showing his strength in Vijay Hazare Trophy. Just a few days ago, there was speculation about dropping him from the Indian ODI team. But then he was retained in the squad for the ODI series against New Zealand also. Pant has been successful in saving his place but for this series starting from January 11, he will join the team with a delay of two days and the reason for this is also very special.

The 3-match ODI series between India and New Zealand is starting from January 11. Team India was announced for this series on January 3, in which Pant has been retained as the backup wicketkeeper. The first match of the series is to be played in Vadodara and for this, almost all the players including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, captain Shubman Gill will gather in the city on Wednesday, January 7, after which the preparations will begin.

But according to the report of Cricbuzz, Rishabh Pant will not reach Vadodara on January 7 like other players of the team. The reason for this is the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in which the Delhi team is continuously performing well under the captaincy of Pant and after a long wait of about 5 years, the team has been successful in reaching the quarter-finals of this tournament. Pant will not be able to be a part of the team in the quarter final round, so before that he wants to stay with the team to play the last match of the group stage. This match is on January 8, by winning which Delhi can achieve first place in its group.

Amidst the questions being raised on himself, Pant has not only captained in this tournament but has also performed well with the bat. The star wicketkeeper-batsman has so far scored 212 runs in 6 matches of the tournament at an average of 42, which includes 2 half-centuries. In the match played against Railways on 6 January, he scored a quick 24 runs in just 9 balls. Under the leadership of Pant, Delhi has so far won 5 out of 6 matches and lost only 1.

In such a situation, Pant will join the team only after playing the match on January 8. Not only Pant, but Shreyas Iyer will also become a part of Team India with some delay. The star batsman, who is returning to cricket action after recovering from injury, made a comeback for Mumbai on Tuesday 6 January in the Vijay Hazare Trophy match and scored 82 runs in just 53 balls. While captaining Mumbai, Iyer played a match-winning inning for the team against Himachal Pradesh. He will also join Team India after the last group match on 8 January.