Former Indian wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa has made a big prediction about India’s star keeper-batter, who he feels will become a huge player in the coming years. Robin Uthappa was full of praise for Rishabh Pant, who he believes is a match-winner and can win games for the Men in Blue on his own with his explosive batting.
Rishabh Pant lost his first-choice wicketkeeper spot to Dinesh Karthik in the T20Is, who made a comeback in the national set-up riding on his stellar performances in the IPL. Pant wasn’t considered at the initial games of the recently concluded T20 World Cup in Australia. Despite being the only left-handed batter in the set-up, he only played a couple of games in the tournament.
Unlike the red-ball format, Rishabh has failed to make his name for the Indian cricket team in the limited-overs format. So far, he has played a total of 64 T20Is to date, where he scored 970 runs at an average of 23.09 and a strike rate of 127.12. Robin Uthappa feels that Rishabh Pant could revive his T20I career and become a stalwart in the shortest format of the game if he is promoted up the batting order.
“Rishabh Pant should open the innings in the New Zealand series, he should definitely play at the top of the order. I think in T20 cricket, that’s where he has been at his best and that is where he will thrive going forward as well,” Uthappa was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.
He added:
“He is a match-winner, a game-changer, and he can easily win matches for India single-handedly with his batting. I think he will be a huge player in T20 cricket over the course of the next 10 years,”
Talking about India vs New Zealand series, the Indian cricket team is without a host of senior players including the likes of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Ravi Ashwin. In the absence of regular captain Rohit Sharma, Hardik will be seen leading the Indian cricket team, while Pant has been made Pandya’s deputy, and after the conclusion of the T20Is, he will remain the vice-captain for the three-match ODI series as well.
