Rishab Pant’s struggles continued as a batter in the second T20 International as he was foxed by Keshaav Maharaj and got for a single digit score.
The stand-in captain had played a useful cameo in the first T20 but before that had a terrible IPL where he couldn’t not lead from the front for his franchises Delhi franchise and his team could not make it to the play-offs.
Everytime Pant has given himself some time, he has gone on to play an impactful innings but most of the time his impatience gets the better of him. Pant had walked in with India two down and he decided to hit the very first ball of Maharaj out of the park but the bowler bowled it wide enough - got the better of him and made him slice to deep point.
Pant had done well for Team India in the Test matches and won them some important games and series but when it comes to the shortest format, his record is not that great. In 44 games so far, he has scored 712 runs at an average of 24 but whats most poor is his strike rate which is just 127.
With Dinesh Karthik coming back in to Indian team and India also going along with young dasher Ishan Kishan, Pant is certainly facing the heat for not scoring when the team requires him to deliver.
Everyone seems to say Pant has special talent but I can’t remember him winning India a single T20 format game with the bat and if his form contnues in this way, he should be given a break and not considered in this format only.
The Indian team going down at their home to a young South African team has further worsened the case for Pant, who has been surprisingly made captain. Calls for axing has come from the fans and it won’t be long before Pant would be out of the team.
- Cricket enthusiast Anis Sajan is the Vice Chairman of Danube Group
