Former opener Aakash Chopra feels that there is uncertainty over Rishabh Pant’s place in India’s T20I playing XI. Pant has been going through a lean patch in the T20 format as he had an underwhelming IPL season with Delhi Capitals where he scored 340 runs in 14 matches as he failed to lead his team to playoffs. The dry run continued in the South Africa T20Is where he scored just 58 runs in the five-match series at an average of 14.50.
Other wicketkeepers in India’s squad Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthik performed well against the Proteas which has put pressure on Pant to find a place in India’s XI for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
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Chopra highlighted Pant’s struggles in the T20Is and said he has cracked the code in Test format but threw away a lot of opportunities in white-ball cricket.
“I don’t see Rishabh Pant in India’s best T20I playing XI currently. There are a lot of concerns, especially in the shortest format. He plays higher up the order for Delhi Capitals, but when it comes to the Indian side, I don’t think that will be the ideal role for him. We’ve seen that he has thrown away a lot of opportunities. He’s cracked the Test code but is still figuring out how to go about in limited-overs cricket,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Pant is currently in England for the postponed fifth Test match against England.
India are currently leading the five-match series against England 2-1 and the scheme of things will be a bit different for both teams from last time. In almost 10 months since then, both teams have got new captains in Ben Stokes and Rohit Sharma along with new head coaches in Dravid and Brendon McCullum.
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Chopra said that the current England side is not the same which India faced last year and they have become a ruthless one under the guidance of McCullum and the leadership of Stokes.
“This England side is a hundred percent stronger than the one we played last year. They had a decent bowling attack back then, and it’s the same case now too when it comes to bowling. Bowling has never been a concern for them. It was their batting that was an issue and even Ben Stokes wasn’t there for the series. Their batting lineup looks better now and they are looking stronger as compared to where they were,” Chopra added.
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