India’s young talent Rishabh Pant has been the No.1 choice behind the stumps across all the three formats for the Indian cricket team for a while now. While he has been amazing in the red-ball cricket, his performance hasn’t been up to his full potential in the limited-overs format with the bat.
Rishabh Pant Continues To Struggle With The Bat
When it comes to the shortest format of the game, Pant has amassed 723 runs at an average of 23.32 and a strike rate of 126.18. But Pant has been quite impressive for his franchise Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League as his numbers are much better. He has scored 2838 runs in 98 matches at 34.61 and a strike rate of 147.97.
Pant once again failed to live up to the expectations of the fans as he couldn’t give the best of his abilities in the 3rd consecutive match last night against South Africa. After failing to score big in the first T20I games, Rishabh Pant could only score 6 runs before he was dismissed off Dwaine Pretorious’ delivery in the 3rd T20I match.
Irfan Pathan’s Stern Warning To Pant
Meanwhile, following his poor performance, former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has issued a stern warning to Pant. Irfan feels Pant might not be a mainstay in the Indian cricket team if he continues to struggle with the bat, especially with the likes of Ishan Kishan, Dinesh Karthik, KL Rahul, and Sanju Samson also offering wicket-keeping options to the side. He said:
“He has got stuck a lot, you will have to perform. As of now, you are doing the captaincy but it is possible that going forward a time might come where you might have to work hard to play in the XI,”
He added: “You already have Dinesh Karthik and Ishan Kishan as wicketkeepers in the playing XI and Sanju Samson is waiting, and KL Rahul (who can keep) is a name who I will always keep in my playing XI. I feel he (Rahul) is the best cricketer. So there is a lot of competition, you cannot keep your bat quiet for too long,”
While Irfan was all praises for the talent that Pant possesses but he wants the young keeper-batter to add more consistency in his game. He said:
“The T20 game is his, that’s what I believe. There is no doubt that Rishabh Pant is a superstar player. He is a 24-year-old boy, if he plays for the next 10 years, he can become the most fantastic cricketer but that result has not come till now.”
He added: “I feel he tries to muscle the ball a lot when he plays on the off side. When you try to put the same power that you put while playing on the leg side while losing your shape, there will be problems. He is trying to hit too hard and hitting the ball in the air. Play along the ground there and hit in the air on the leg side,”
