India captain Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma believes that Rishabh Pant’s recent dismal form is really alarming for the young wicketkeeper-batsman and it is high time for the under-fire Delhi lad to be careful about his batting to keep his place in his favorite format of the game – T20 cricket.
Pant’s last scores read in ODIs – 36, 16, 32, 48, 4, 30, 20, 0 while in T20Is – 4, 40*, 28, 3, 1, 0, 4, 65*, 4 – which raised many eyebrows and even forced Head coach Ravi Shastri and batting coach Vikram Rathore to show their concern over his batting and Sharma feels that is a matter of concern for the young player.
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Sharma told ANI on Friday, (September 20), “Its high time, he should be careful, T20 is his favorite format and he is not able to perform. He has quality strokes, he is an impact player and a match-winner too but unfortunately, he is not delivering.”
His place in the ODI cricket at No.4 spot could be in danger following his continuous struggle with the bat averaging just 22.9 while his poor form in T20s as well left Sharma worried for Pant. It seems that Pant’s another poor outing for India that could lead him to lose his place in the limited-overs cricket squad.
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He continued, “I am really worried for Rishabh Pant because the way he is playing is really alarming and the kind of comments are coming especially from Ravi Shastri and batting coach Vikram Rathour is a matter of concern.”
Meanwhile, Kohli recently became the highest run-scorer in T20I cricket with his brilliant knock of 72 in the Mohali T20I against South Africa, and Sharma has just praise for the right-hander.
He signed off by saying, “99 percent of the time he doesn’t know what he has achieved in terms of records. I always inform him about his records, he plays selfless cricket and his stats tell that how big a player he is.”
(With ANI Inputs)
