Rishabh Pant’s place in India’s T20I side and the T20 World Cup squad has been up for debate. The left-hander hasn’t done enough in the format and has technical issues when looking to play on the off-side, his detractors have claimed.
The 25-year-old continued to give his doubters more fuel with his latest failure. Pant was given the chance to open the innings in India’s first warm-up fixture on Monday against Western Australia XI at the W.A.C.A. Ground in Perth.
Pant couldn’t handle the extra pace and bounce of the W.A.C.A surface and was dismissed by fast bowler Andrew Tye for only 9 runs, which he scored from 16 balls. Pant’s slow start, coupled with his opening partner Rohit Sharma’s dismissal for 3 runs, made the work for the rest of the batters cut out.
Pant’s T20I numbers – average of 24 and strike rate of 127 – and his troubles while playing on the off-side are a concern for the Team India and their fans.
The left-hander has been given a long backing by the current and previous management but Pant has disappointed in T20Is – his strike rate this year in T20Is has increased to 136 but that has come at a decrease in average to 26: last year, his T20I strike rate was 125 and average was 30. So Pant has remained either lacking in consistency or lacking in firepower at any point.
Matters for him have worsened given a competitor for his spot in the squad, Sanju Samson, has been in terrific form this year in T20s and ODIs.
So, this cheap score by Pant of 9 runs further gave supporters of Samson to troll him.
Here are some of the tweets that trolled Pant and questioned his place in the T20 World Cup squad:
Rishabh Pant out for 9 from 17 balls
Pant fans were accusing Sanju Samson as stat paddler, no intent etc. So what should we call this pant innings?
Stat padding? No intent?
Mind you he is playing against the B side bowling attack of a domestic team pic.twitter.com/wzAvbec672
— .ᵇʳᵘᵗᵘ (@Brutu24) October 10, 2022
Sanju Samson has scored 86*(63)Sr 136+ & 30*(36) against South Africa’s full strength team that too in a ODI game against top quality bowling attack but he is called as Statpadder.
Now Rishabh Pant made 9 runs in 17 balls against domestic bowlers in a t20 warm up match 🤣😂🤣
— Roshmi 🇮🇳 (@cric_roshmi) October 10, 2022
Rishabh Pant dismissed for 9 in the warm-up game.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 10, 2022
Rishabh Pant made 9 runs in 17 balls in a T20 game and he is called Power Hitter and Intent Merchant but when Sanju Samson made 86 runs in 63 balls in a ODI game he is called as Statpadder.
— Just Butter (@ItzButter63) October 10, 2022
Rishabh Pant disappoints again, out caught in the deep on the off side
Hardik Pandya walks in at 46-3 after 7 overs.#SportsYaari— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) October 10, 2022
Rishabh Pant fans were worried about Sanju Samson’s strike rate when he played at 136 SR in an odi game.
Meanwhile the intent man Pant scored 9 from 17 balls against domestic bowlers in a t20 warm up match. Already a failed t20i player in 60+ t20is#RishabhPant #SanjuSamson pic.twitter.com/4PqcgIahHX
— Anurag ™ (@RightGaps) October 10, 2022
Deepak Hooda out with positive intent on a pitch that both Rishabh Pant & Rohit Sharma struggled, Hooda is smacking the bowlers 🇮🇳#SportsYaari
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) October 10, 2022
I know that Pant had a SR of 151.79 in the 2022 IPL, has a sensational overall IPL record, is probably the most dynamic LHB in the country right now and is a wicket-keeper, but for how long will India keep backing him in T20Is? https://t.co/fNLIoKyEYd
— Sparsh Telang (@_cricketsparsh) October 10, 2022
Pant played same kind of innings in t20 wc against nz 12(19) pic.twitter.com/eHHxGRqFLZ
— Mohit (@MohitRR19) October 10, 2022
Once again, it was Suryakumar Yadav who came to India’s rescue after early wickets. Suryakumar scored 52 runs off 35 balls with the help of 3 fours and 3 sixes to take India to 158/6 in 20 overs.
Indian bowlers were on the money at the start of the innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh combined to take 5 wickets while Harshal picked one and Chahal bagged a brace as India won by 13 runs.
