Former Indian all-rounder Sanjay Bangar, talking about Rishabh Pant’s batting struggles, in contrast the wicketkeeper-batter’s kind to that of batting nice Sachin Tendulkar from his early days within the ODI. He identified that it took Tendulkar over 70 matches to register his first ODI century, which got here solely after he was pushed to open the innings after vastly enjoying within the middle-order.
Bangar mentioned that though Ishan Kishan is doing effectively proper now on the prime, Pant can even ship from that place. He mentioned that, in the meanwhile, if the Indian staff is in search of a left-hand-right-hand opening mixture, Pant may be the selection for a left-handed batter opening the innings for a long run.
“I’ve been fascinated by it for 3 years. In the event you take a look at Sachin Tendulkar’s profession, he hit his first century in his seventy fifth or 76th innings when he was requested to open the innings in opposition to New Zealand after batting largely within the middle-order,” mentioned Bangar on Star Sports activities.
Rishabh Pant can do the job that Adam Gilchrist did for Australia: Bangar mentioned.
“Proper now, the Indian staff is a left-right mixture. Sure, Ishan Kishan is doing good proper now, but when the Indian staff is eyeing a left-right opening pair for the long run, Rishabh Pant can do the identical job that somebody like Adam Gilchrist did for Australia,” added Bangar.
One other former India all-rounder, Irfan Pathan, additionally spoke about selling Pant within the batting order. He mentioned that though there shall be a problem with the ball swinging early on within the innings, Pant is a high quality batter who can deal with that. Pathan feels Pant opening the innings would possibly occur sooner or later, though he reckons it won’t occur now. He additionally highlighted Pant’s points with balls exterior off-stump, because the latter was dismissed going after off-side deliveries thrice within the recently-concluded T20I sequence in opposition to South Africa.
“We’re speaking about off-side (drawback) for a very long time now. However when does it occur? When the sphere opens up,” mentioned Pathan. “Can we use Rishabh Pant within the powerplay the place the bowlers can’t give sufficient width? Sure, there shall be problem as a result of the ball will swing early on, however then, Rishabh Pant is a high quality batter. So, I’m pondering alongside these strains. It is probably not proper now, however perhaps sooner or later,” he added.
