Indian spinner Piyush Chawla believes Rishabh Pant's role as an opener in the recent T20I series was a move to give him "a free hand" to play his aggressive brand of cricket, but he needs to translate his Test form to the limited-overs format.
The left-hander scored 26 runs off 15 balls in the second T20I and then he was dismissed for 1 off 5 balls in the third and final T20I while opening for Team India against England.
However, India lost the final match by 17 runs but managed to clinch the T20I series with a 2-1 margin, having won the first two T20Is. England and India will now face each other in three ODIs from July 12.
Piyush Chawla said on ESPNcricinfo: “Maybe just trying to give him that free hand because we've seen that in the last few games in white-ball cricket, he didn't get too many runs. Although he was brilliant in red-ball, but he needs to get that form going in white-ball cricket.”
He added, “That could be the reason because when you go and open the innings and if the first ball is in his arc, he is ready to go for it when the field is up. So I think that kind of role they have given to Rishabh Pant - 'go and express yourself'. That's what his game is all about. With fielders inside the ring, it becomes a little free hand for him. So that could be the reason they sent Pant to open the innings.”
However, Chawla doesn’t think Pant will continue to play as an opener once KL Rahul returns to the Indian team.
Explaining his point, he noted: “The kind of record KL Rahul has, especially in T20 cricket while opening, I don't see that as a regular spot (for Pant), but it's something they wanted to try.”
He signed off by saying, “And we've seen a couple of statements earlier from senior players and ex-cricketers that he can do the role which Gilchrist has done for the Australian team. But KL Rahul is a class act. So once he comes back into the side, I don't think Rishabh Pant fits into that spot.”
(With ESPNcricinfo Inputs)
