India's wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant has been in tremendous form in red-ball cricket. His performance has filled the team management with confidence after being dropped several times from the side.
But former India batsman Virender Sehwag is still not sure if the management would be patient when Pant fails to score. He feels the youngster would be questioned again after consecutive failures despite showing his worth with the bat lately.
Sehwag wants captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri to back Pant more and give him a sense of security to play his shots.
"If you’re playing him and expecting him to consistently score runs like other players, and his strike rate goes down in the process, that expectation is wrong. When I used to play, I had the license that if you play one terrific, match-winning knock in seven-eight innings, the management was to remain happy," Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
"But I think the current management wants a performance after every 2-3 games, it seems only then do they back a player. So that is a point that if such a player comes and you give him a free hand, but what is this freehand that you drop him from the XI after four matches and he is left out of the team by the time the tour ends."
The 42-year-old said the team management sees Pant as the like-for-like replacement of MS Dhoni which isn't right for the youngster. He also questioned the change in the statement of Kohli and Shastri whenever there's a drop in the performance of Pant.
"We have been hearing this. Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri have given statements that they are backing Rishabh Pant, but when he drops, the same statement changes. At least, Ganguly’s statement did not change when I used to play. Had there been another player like me in the domestic circuit, I could have been replaced," Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
"Perhaps Kohli and Shastri are thinking Pant is Dhoni's replacement so the way Dhoni plays, Pant should play similarly. That is not true. Pant cannot play like Dhoni. That may come with experience but if he tries to play like Dhoni, neither will he be able to play like Dhoni nor like himself."
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
