Rishabh Pant, an Indian wicketkeeper who bats, has been receiving a lot of flak recently for his uneven performance in Twenty20 International matches. The just-completed five-match Twenty20 International series against South Africa saw him score only 58 runs at a strike rate of 105.45, as his stats in the white-ball format continue to decline. Although he has participated in 48 Twenty20 International matches so far, he has only scored 741 runs with a strike rate of 123.91. Given his performance in Twenty20 Internationals, his future participation in white-ball cricket is being called into question, and the Twenty20 World Cup is only four months from now. However, Aakash Chopra, who played for India in the past, thinks that Pant brings an X-factor to the Indian squad and that he should be included in the major event in Australia.
After KL Rahul was ruled out of the South Africa series with a groin injury, the 24-year-old batter was chosen to serve as the team’s stand-in captain for the matches. The southpaw, on the other hand, had a difficult time adapting to his new job since he made some unexpected choices about the bowling rotation. Additionally, he was criticized heavily for maintaining the same eleven players for the whole of the series, which resulted in a tie score of 2-2. Pant’s present form is being called into question by several well-known emeritus Indian cricket players, including Sunil Gavaskar and Wasim Jaffer. Former Indian pacers Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra both seemed to have no problem with the decision to bench Pant in favor of players like Dinesh Karthik, Sanju Samson, and Ishan Kishan.
Our team’s secret weapon is Rishabh Pant: Aakash Chopra
However, Chopra emphasized that Pant will be the only left-handed batting option in the upcoming World Cup because Ishan is not likely to get a chance to open ahead of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja is likely to play at the number seven position. Pant, according to him, is India’s X-factor in Twenty20 International matches, and he is extremely crucial to the whole scheme of things for the squad.
“In the series, Rishabh Pant had the role of captain, and when someone has the role of captain, you get the impression that they are safe. A lot of people, including myself, believed that there was no need for him to give an audition because he is one of the first names you would want to put when you prepare the squad. There was no need for him to give an audition because he is one of the first names you would want to put when you prepare the squad,” Aakash Chopra said in his Youtube video.
“He is our unique differentiator. In the whole batting order, there is only one batter who bats left-handed; the rest of the batters hit right-handed. Rishabh Pant is very, very vital and fundamental to India’s scheme of things. You never know if Ishan Kishan will have a chance or not, and Jaddu arrives in the end, so it is important to note that Rishabh Pant is very, very crucial,” Chopra said.
