Former Indian fast bowler Ashish Nehra believes we need to be patient with Rishabh Pant in white-ball cricket. Pant has grabbed his opportunities with both hands in the red-ball version of the game but he still hasn’t announced himself in white-ball cricket.
The left-hander has a decent record in the IPL but he hasn’t been able to carry the same while playing for the national team. Pant had scored a fine knock of 146 runs and then followed it with 57 runs in the rescheduled fifth Test match against England.
Subsequently, Pant got a chance to open the innings in the last two T20I matches against England. The left-hander got off to a start but could not go on to make a substantial score. Pant then gifted his wicket away in the second ODI as he hit a full-toss straight to mid-on without troubling the scorers.
Pant has an average of 31.08 and 22.58 in ODIs and T20Is respectively and thus he hasn’t grabbed his chances.
“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,” said Nehra in a select media interaction facilitated recently by Sony Sports Network.
India had open the innings with Rishabh Pant in the T20I series and Nehra reckons the left-hander can turn the match on its head with his pyrotechnics.
“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.”
It is well known that Pant likes to play aggressively and he likes to take the attack on the opposition bowlers fromt the get-go. Nehra believes it will be difficult for Pant to play with consistency with his aggressive style of batting.
“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,” he said.
Rishabh Pant will look to grab his chances in the white-ball format. There is no doubt that the left-hander has all the talent under his belt and he will look to deliver the goods.
