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.
But according to former India batsman and Delhi Capitals assistant coach Mohammad Kaif, Team India hasn’t been able to find the right role for Pant in the shorter formats.
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Kaif further said he along with head coach Ricky Ponting and former mentor Sourav Ganguly decided that the youngster would play the finisher's role for Capitals in the Indian Premier League.
"Rishabh Pant is a free-flowing player. If you set a number (in the batting order) for him, if you tell him you have these many overs and you have to do this, you help him play with a clear mind," Kaif told Aakash Chopra in his YouTube show #Aakashvani.
"In whatever discussions I had with Ganguly and Ponting, we decided that Pant has to face the last 10 overs, he needs to get 60 balls regardless of his batting position. The wickets don't decide his position but it's based on the number of overs left.
"India is not being able to do this properly. He is sometimes sent in at 15th over in a 50-over match. He is a finisher, he is an attacking batsman, he has to be given a role that suits him. The Indian team is not able to find him an ideal spot, but in the IPL, Delhi Capitals have been able to find it," he explained.
Kaif also revealed that the 22-year-old Rishabh Pant was feeling low after he was initially left out of India’s World Cup 2019 squad.
Pant went to England as a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan whose campaign was cut short due to thumb injury. He played four matches in the showpiece event, scoring 116 runs at an average of 29.
"He was feeling quite low when he was not picked in the World Cup squad. He is an emotional guy. But we kept telling him 'you're quite young, you have already made a name for yourself'. None of us had doubted his ability. We kept telling him to keep doing his work.
"He is a young player. He will become a better, better player in the next 2-3 years," Kaif said.
