India, June 4 -- justify;">It has been a tough few months for Rishabh Pant. A horror season as captain for the Lucknow Super Giants forced his hand into stepping down from his role as the team's leader, not long after it was confirmed that the wicket-keeper batter lost his position as Shubman Gill's vice-captain for the Indian national Test team.

It would not be shocking to expect that Pant's usually cheery and upbeat demeanour was slightly dented as he headed into India's training camp ahead of the one-off Test match against Afghanistan. However, Indian assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate credited Pant for keeping his mentality up and willing to be a leader in practice, if not name, for the team.

"I don't think you need a formal title t...