Team India batting coach Vikram Rathour had admitted that the young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been struggling since the last year, but still, he has the backing of the team management because of being “a special player” for them.
Pant had made his entry into the Indian Cricket Team with a band, enjoying a great outing in England in 2018 and then in Australia and went on to become a household name. Given his hitting ability at the lower order and moderate wicketkeeping skills, the left-hander was seen to fill in MS Dhoni’s big shoes.
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Well, all the things went against Pant last year, as the 22-year-old was severely criticized after he failed to deliver with the bat in 2019 despite getting frequent chances, leading his wicketkeeping skills to come into questions and eventually lost his place to Wriddhiman Saha and KL Rahul respectively in Test cricket and limited-overs cricket.
He has scored just 576 runs at an average of 23.04 including only two half-centuries in 28 matches for India across all three formats of the game for India.
However, India’s batting coach has lent strong support to Pant, as he believes that the Delhi lad can bring a lot to the Indian cricket team once he starts delivering according to his potential.
Rathour told SportsKeeda in the latest interaction: “He [Rishabh Pant] hasn’t had a great last year and hasn’t done too well in international cricket. He still has the backing of the team management and we believe he is a special player. He can still bring a lot to the Indian cricket team once he starts scoring.”
On replacing Dhoni, the former cricketer said: “MS Dhoni is still around, we don’t know what is happening with him, but replacing someone like him is not and was never going to be easy, with the kind of stature he had in international cricket. Pant has had a few failures so he has been under pressure to perform, but something like this makes you a stronger and better player.”
Stressing on the need to continue backing Pant, Rathour is confident that the Delhi lad will emerge as a match-winner for India in the future despite his recent struggle across the formats.
Rathour signed off by saying, “He’s working really hard on the physical aspect, he is training hard, he is practicing hard, and I have absolutely no doubt that if we keep backing him, eventually he will be a match-winner for Team India.”
(With SportsKeeda Inputs)
