IND vs SL LIVE: ICC World Cup 2023: Rishabh Pant’s former Delhi captain and Delhi Capitals teammate has a big piece of advice for him. The former India captain has asked Rishabh Pant to focus on Test cricket and forget about ODI World Cup next year. The selectors have dropped Pant from both T20 and ODI squads for SriLanka series in favour of Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson. With WC just 10 months left for WC, Gambhir believes it would be difficult to make it back for Pant. Follow India vs SriLanka LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
“Rishabh had got his opportunities in white-ball cricket and hasn’t been able to grab it, and someone else like Ishan Kishan has been able to grab it. So probably now he should just focus on red-ball cricket, and if his turn comes, whenever he gets that opportunity, try and grab it,” Gautam Gambhir said on Star Sports.
IND vs SL LIVE: Ex-Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir advises ‘dropped’ junior Rishabh Pant to forget World Cup 2023, ‘Focus only on Test cricket’
While the BCCI did not give an official explanation on Pant’s exclusion, Pant will visit the NCA for a knee niggle. InsideSport later learnt that Pant has been asked to work on his fitness before the Test series against Australia. However, with no numbers to back his claim in white-ball squads, Gambhir said he felt Pant was dropped and not rested.
“First of all, the selectors need to be very clear if he’s been rested or dropped. According to me, he must have been dropped from white-ball cricket. There has never been enough clarity. This word called ‘rest’ is great to have. it wasn’t there when we were playing,” Gambhir said.
Despite bursting into the scenes as a white-ball specialist, Rishabh Pant has rather made a name in Test cricket over T20s and ODIs. While he has got a lot of opportunities in both T20s and ODIs, he has not been able to capitalise on it. Instead, Dinesh Karthik stole the place in T20 World Cup 2022.
Rishabh Pant in 2022 in ODI & T20s:
- In 10 ODI innings, Rishabh Pant has scored 336 runs at an average of 37.33.
- He has had two half-centuries and a century.
- In T20s, his performances dip quite drastically.
- In 21 innings, Pant has only managed 364 runs at an average of 21.41.
- His strike rate too hasn’t been too impressive.
- Furthermore, despite repeated sessions with Rahul Dravid, he has thrown away his wicket quite frequently.
IND vs SL LIVE: Ex-Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir advises ‘dropped’ junior Rishabh Pant to forget World Cup 2023, ‘Focus only on Test cricket’
However, both Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson have done well when given a chance. Ishan has recently slammed the fastest double century in ODIs. Samson too has played crucial knocks for India despite limited opportunities.
“I don’t see that (return of Pant in T20s & ODIs) happening in the near future if Ishan continues to play the way he’s playing. We keep talking about that template. But for people like Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav – that template comes to them naturally,” Gautam Gambhir said.
| Battle for spots among wicketkeepers in T20s | ||||||
| Players | Matches | Innings | Runs | Strike Rate | Avg | 50/100 |
| Rishabh Pant | 25 | 21 | 364 | 132.84 | 21.41 | 1/0 |
| Ishan Kishan | 16 | 16 | 476 | 127.95 | 29.75 | 3/0 |
| Sanju Samson | 6 | 5 | 179 | 158.4 | 44.75 | 1/0 |
“Everyone wants to see Indian cricket more courageous and fearless. These guys can play in a natural way. Rishabh has got that opportunity, so he can’t blame or complain. He’s got the opportunity to open, bat at 3-4-5-6, the management has given him every opportunity to succeed in white-ball cricket, but he hasn’t been able to. I think he can concentrate on red-ball cricket, which is not bad for Rishabh because at least his entire focus is on his keeping and how he can bat at No. 5 or 6 in Test cricket.”
India’s squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.
India’s squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.
IND vs SL LIVE: Ex-Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir advises ‘dropped’ junior Rishabh Pant to forget World Cup 2023, ‘Focus only on Test cricket’
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