Indian youngsters Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan have played U-19 cricket for India together and then came up against each other in IPL as well as domestic cricket, but now one is playing for India at the highest level while the other is still awaiting national call-up despite brilliant show.
At the moment, both Pant and Kishan are playing in the ongoing IPL 2020 in UAE – where Delhi Capitals’ batsman is struggling to score runs while Jharkhand star has been in brilliant form with the bat for Mumbai Indians, but still, Rishabh managed to find himself in India’s Test squad for Australia tour.
However, Pant wasn’t picked in the white-ball squads for the Australia tour, while Kishan was once again overlooked for India selection despite being the 4th highest run-scorer in the IPL 2020 with 483 runs currently.
Recently, former India cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has made some valid points regarding the duo, saying that Kishan will soon be competing with Rishabh Pant for the all-important spot in Team India.
The 55-year-old said there is “contest within a contest in Indian cricket” and that’s an exciting thing while adding that the competition between Pant and Kishan for the wicket-keeper's spot will be “intriguing”.
Manjrekar wrote for Hindustan Times, “Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan are contemporaries. I remember them being part of the India U19 team in the World Cup in Dhaka in 2016; Rahul Dravid was their coach. Pant and Kishan were the “alphas” in that team, Kishan more obviously so, being the captain.”
He further added, “Pant was flamboyant in the way he played his cricket while Kishan was more measured in his approach. As it happens in sport, you see your contemporaries—people you shared rooms with—getting fast-tracked into the national team, while you wait longingly for your turn.”
Praising Kishan, the former batsman said: “Meanwhile, his once U19 captain Kishan has taken the staircase up to the spotlight. He has slowly developed his T20 game, as is apparent in the superb season he is having for Mumbai Indians. There is a bit of Pant in the way he is playing his big shots this season, in the way he puts his powerful torso to work.”
He signed off, “He can hit quality fast bowlers out of the ground too and seems to have acquired more gears to his batting than Pant does. He will now start competing with his junior cricket colleague for the same spot in the Indian team. This will be an intriguing contest within a contest in Indian cricket.”
