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'I want him to focus more on his batting than his position': Nehra's crucial advice to India youngster amid rough patch
Nehra offered a crucial advice to the 24-year-old India star, following his struggles in the ongoing series against South Africa.
In the ongoing five-match series against South Africa, the Indian batters have had an inconsistent outing. Barring Ishan Kishan, who has scored two half-centuries in three games so far, the other batters – especially in the middle-order – have failed to deliver as consistently in the middle order. One of them is captain Rishabh Pant, who has scores of 29, 5, and 6 across three games so far. The Indian wicketkeeper-batter came at no.4 in all the matches, but has so far failed to step up for the team in the series.
Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra spoke in length about Pant's poor run in the T20Is against South Africa, and had a word of advice for the southpaw. Nehra insisted that Pant should be playing with a free mind, and not focus too much about his batting position or his potential competitors in the role.
"If you look at the IPL this year, Ricky Ponting had said that Rishabh Pant was very unhappy with his performances in the season. Now, Rishabh might only be 24, but he has been playing in the IPL for five years now. So, he is an experienced player now, at least in this format.
“Such experiences give confidence to players. From here, he wants to be better. He's playing at the no.4 role in international cricket, and obviously, there will always be pressure on him because there's a lot of competition. Suryakumar Yadav is there, Virat Kohli will also return in future. That will happen. In this series, I would want Rishabh Pant to focus more on his batting than his batting position,” Nehra said on Cricbuzz.
Nehra further said that senior members of the side, including vice-captain Hardik Pandya and head coach Rahul Dravid can help Rishabh Pant combat his rough patch with the bat.
“It (the batting position) doesn't make a big difference. How he captains, how much better can he perform.. he needs only one innings to get his mindset changed. It is important he doesn't take too much pressure upon himself. Senior players like Hardik Pandya, and even Rahul Dravid should help him there,” said Nehra further.
