Former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar lauded Rishabh Pant for his heroics with the bat in the second ODI against South Africa, saying that his innings could be a career-defining one for him in the 50-over format.
Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant played one of his best knocks in the second ODI against South Africa in Paarl. Batting at No.4, the southpaw steered his side out of trouble after they lost Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli in quick succession of time.
Rishabh Pant played a counter-attacking innings and recorded his ODI career-best score of 85 runs, which now is also the highest score by an Indian wicket-keeper in ODIs in South Africa.
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He along with skipper KL Rahul (55) stitched a vital 115-run partnership and helped his side post a respectable target of 288 runs on the board. Even though India lost the match but the wicketkeeper-batter was the standout performer for the visitors.
Speaking on Star Sports, Sanjay Bangar was impressed with Rishabh Pant’s aggressive knock in the second ODI against South Africa and said that this could be the innings that sets the template for him as a batter in the format.
He added that along with pacing his innings, the way Pant targeted the areas was impressive and it seemed that he was toying with the field.
“I was very impressed. This could be a career-defining innings for him. As a player, you have got tto play every format accordingly. If you see his today's innings, he was run-a-ball until his 30th delivery and then he accelerated so quickly.
“Along with the way he paced his innings, the way he targetted the areas was impressive. At one point, it seemed he was toying with the field especially when Shamsi was bowling. There was a lot of thought in that innings," Sanjay Bangar said.
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Sanjay Bangar further said that it was an impressive innings from Rishabh Pant as he would’ve unlocked something special related to the understanding of his ODI game.
"What he would have loved to do is when KL Rahul got out, he could have taken that much longer. But it was an impressive innings. He would have unlocked something special as far as understanding his ODI game is concerned," he said.
Notably, Rishabh Pant so far is the second-highest run-scorer for India in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa with 101 runs to his name. He’ll be next seen in action during the third match between the teams in Cape Town on Sunday (23rd January).
(Star Sports inputs)
