Rishabh Pant has been a fan favourite for the Indian cricket fans for his match winning performances in international cricket. However, his career took a bad turn when he suffered a near fatal car crash in December 2022. He was out of the game for one and half years and finally made his comeback in IPL2024. It was a very good moment for him as he made his long awaited to lead the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024.
However, his batting performances in the opening two games for Delhi Capitals has not been satisfactory. He scored 18 runs in 13 balls in the first game against Punjab Kings. In the second game against Rajasthan Royals, he again came to bat at number 4 and scored 28 runs off 26 balls. In this article we will talk about why Rishabh Pant should open the batting for Delhi Capitals in the upcoming matches in IPL 2024.
2 Reasons Why Rishabh Pant Should Open The Batting For DC In The Upcoming Games:
His Lack of touch in middle overs in T20 cricket
Pant has had a stellar career batting at number 5 or 6 in test cricket for India. However, even before his accident, he was not able to make his mark in T20 cricket batting in the middle order. He has an average of just 22 and a strike rate of 126 in the 66 T20I’s he ha splayed for India. That is very poor when it comes to T20 cricket. He looks out of touch in the middle order and also fails to get going in the middle overs. He even gets stuck at one end and also has trouble in rotating the strike. It’s clearly evident with his low strike rate. If he gets to open the innings, he can use the powerplay, go for his shots and play with more freedom.
Coming back to the game after a long break
Rishabh Pant is coming back after a long hiatus of one and half years. We can easily see that he is looking rusty in his batting. He is not getting his timing right and is failing to get going in the middle overs. It can happen to anyone who is coming back to cricket after a long break and a life threatening injury. So, opening the innings, will give him the freedom, the advantage of using the field restrictions and few more balls to get going. Pant opening the innings will lengthen the DC batting line up as he clearly looks a misfit playing in the middle overs.
