Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra wants explosive wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant to be included in the Indian team in all three formats in international cricket.
After being dropped from India's limited-overs set-up and getting trolled for his weight and performances during IPL 2020; Rishabh Pant's turnaround is one of the most remarkable ones being witnessed in the history of Indian cricket.
Rishabh Pant was a revelation with the bat in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar trophy and set the stage of fire on with his carefree knock of 91 runs in the first Test match between India and England.
After proving his prowess in red-ball cricket Rishabh Pant is almost certainly in the playing XI in Test matches, but that is not the case in white-ball cricket.
Pant has not played a white-ball game for India since the ODI series against Australia on home soil in 2020 and was not in the scheme of things for the Indian limited-overs squads in the recently concluded Australia tour.
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However, in the latest video shared on his Facebook page, Aakash Chopra said that he will be very excited to see Rishabh Pant in India's limited-overs teams as well.
“I will be very excited to see Rishabh Pant in all three formats. Don’t believe that he is a finished product; he is not. It will take him time to become a finished product and to do well as a keeper. But let’s start looking at Rishabh Pant as a package,” Aakash Chopra said in a video shared on his Facebook channel.
Chopra feels that Kl Rahul can bat at the top of the order in T20I cricket, which will allow Team India to play Rishabh Pant alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya as a finisher.
“If you are making KL Rahul bat at No.5 or No.6 in ODIs and T20Is, I would say that you should make KL Rahul open, and you should set Rishabh Pant somehow in the middle because you want to see Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja batting together. If they do that, your statute grows, as you get the firing power,” he said.
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Chopra acknowledged that Team India will persist with Shikhar Dhawan at the opening spot in 50-over cricket and added that Shreyas Iyer might be the one to make way for Rishabh Pant in the middle order.
“There is no doubt that you will open with Shikhar Dhawan in ODI cricket at the moment. You can play one out of Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Rahul is going to play; pressure is going to get created on Shreyas Iye,” he said.
Chopra further said India should always keep Pant in the squad and include him in the eleven whenever they get a chance.
“You should keep Pant in the team, and when you get the opportunity, you should include him because he is a game-changer; that doesn’t change. Your basic quality doesn’t change, and he keeps reminding us repeatedly that we need to be patient,” he concluded.
Rishabh Pant has amassed 784 runs in 43 white-ball matches he played for Team India.
