Rishabh Pant burst onto the scene has a hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batter. Soon comparisons with the legendary MS Dhoni followed considering the world cup winning captain also made a name for his big-hitting abilities during the early part of his cricket career.
It’s been five years since Pant made his international debut during a T20I against England in Bengaluru. Since then, he’s become an India regular across formats.
Strangely enough, despite his power-hitting skills, Pant has made his name playing Test cricket and his record in white-ball cricket isn’t as impressive with critics often lamenting him throwing away good starts.
The 24-year-old averages 43.32 in Tests and has scored five centuries and 10 fifties. In ODIs, he averages 31.08 and has five fifties to his name.
In T20Is, Pant has just three fifties from 50 matches and averages 22.58 with a strike-rate of 124.27.
Former India cricketer Ashish Nehra though feels that critics and fans need to be patient with the youngster and there’s no doubt over his talent considering he’s proved his worth in difficult situations.
“Rishabh Pant, being the player he is, we don’t need to discuss what kind of a talent he is. He has shown that in difficult conditions. So, we have to be a little patient, keep our patience with him,” Nehra was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.
Nehra termed Pant as an ‘asset’ across formats,
“You know what a guy like Pant can do in the first six overs, and with the field restriction, in the future, with more experience, Rishabh Pant is an all-rounder, he’s a big asset for the Indian team in any format,” he said.
Nehra backed Pant saying the batter will become more consistent with time because his style of play makes it very difficult to score big runs regularly.
“It’s very difficult to keep performing. Rishabh Pant, what kind of player is he? When it comes to that, we want him to score runs and to score at that strike rate in every format. And that much consistency will only come with time because the kind of player he is, the way he plays, you know, it’s very difficult to get the consistency,” Nehra said.
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