Rishabh Pant has established himself as a leading wicketkeeper-batsman in red-ball cricket after making his debut in England in 2018. The southpaw has already scored two Test tons outside the subcontinent – the only Indian glovesman to do so.
However, Rishabh is yet to find his feet in limited-overs cricket. With Dhoni making himself unavailable for selection after the World Cup 2019, Pant was a regular feature in India’s white-ball team but he failed to secure his spot. The left-hander has played 16 ODIs, 28 T20Is so far and his averages of 26.71, 20.50 respectively suggest that he is not doing justice to his talent.
While many cricket pundits feel that Team India hasn’t been able to find the right role for Pant in the shorter formats, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes ‘a little kick on the back’ will help the youngster.
“Sometimes you are getting too much backing which Virat Kohli is backing him in the public eye as well, but I think when you get a little bit of kick on your back, that’s when if you have talent you are going to go big,” Pathan said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.
“I have no doubt that even though all the pressure is coming on him, he had to miss out some matches in T20 cricket with KL Rahul going out and doing what he did as a wicketkeeper as well and that is going to put pressure, but I think that will do a world of good to Rishabh Pant,” he added.
As per Irfan Pathan, the Coronavirus-induced break came at a right time for Pant as it promises to help the 22-year-old come out of slump.
“If you talk of Rishabh Pant, he is a young guy, very talented, there was a lot of focus on him. So the focus getting removed from him, it will do a world of good to Rishabh Pant and many other cricketers,” Pathan remarked.
“Lot of people will benefit from this break. I feel there will be a lot of cricketers whose career was at stake but would get revived now because they would have recovered mentally as well as physically, especially players who are 35-36 years of age their careers might get extended for a couple of years,” he elaborated.
