Gautam Gambhir feels that Indian team must make Rishabh Pant feel wanted

Rishabh Pant has not been in good form with the bat in last few matches.

Rishabh Pant has been facing criticism from all corners of media, fans and former cricketers after a string of poor performances in international cricket starting from the West Indies tour. His penchant for getting out early and in annoying ways has got onto the nerves of fans and experts, who are in favor of giving the youngster a break and trying someone else in his place.

Pant, who has been earmarked as MS Dhoni’s replacement, has not been able to score much apart from a fifty in his last few innings for the Indian team, including ODIs, T20Is and Tests. Even his innings in the World Cup 2019 semifinal against New Zealand was criticized due to the fact he threw away his wicket in order to play a rash shot.

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However, he has found support from former India opener Gautam Gambhir, who says that the team must make Pant feel wanted in order to instill confidence in him. "Personally, I have always backed Sanju Samson ahead of Rishabh for wicketkeeper-batsman's role but it is disappointing to see the team-management using words like "from fearless to careless", "wrap on Rishbah's knuckles" and "need for a backup of Rishabh". This is no way to handle a young human resource. Everyone wants him to play "sensible" cricket," Gambhir wrote in his column for Times of India.

"I don't know what that means. What I do know is that the boy is now playing for survival rather than scoring runs. From the outside, it seems that his mindset is all over the place. Someone needs to put an arm around his shoulder and tell him that he is wanted in the team," Gambhir said.

Pant will have many chances to prove his enormous talent correct with one T20I and 3 Tests against South Africa to go. If he fails to count his chances in these matches, selectors’ patience with him may run out.