Rishabh Pant's lean patch with the bat in the ongoing India-England tour has fuelled a huge discussion on his place in the team. While several experts and pundits expect India to back their swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman, they, however, have expressed concerns over his approach. The latest to join the bandwagon is Akash Chopra, who believes the team might reshuffler the order with regards to Pant and Ravindra Jadeja.
While analysing India's performance in the third Test, where Virat Kohli's team went down by an innings and 76 runs at Headingley, former India opener Chopra opined that India may promote Jadeja ahead of Pant as the former's blade has yielded more runs.
"In the next match, India might start thinking to promote Jadeja and demote Rishabh because the five-bowler theory looks good to hear, but it means Pant after Ajinkya, then Jadeja and four proper bowlers. It's not a great thing."
"You expect from him, and you only throw stones at a tree that bears fruit. You look towards an X-factor and ask him to score runs. Rishabh Pant will have to really change his tack very quickly. He is a class player, but till now, his number is in Ollie Robinson's pocket," explained Chopra.
{{/usCountry}}"You expect from him, and you only throw stones at a tree that bears fruit. You look towards an X-factor and ask him to score runs. Rishabh Pant will have to really change his tack very quickly. He is a class player, but till now, his number is in Ollie Robinson's pocket," explained Chopra.
{{/usCountry}}The former India openers reiterated the reason why Pant is playing ahead of Wriddhiman Saha but also remarked that Pant is "looking the big concern" to him.
"Rishabh Pant is looking the big concern to me. The way he is batting, you are playing five bowlers because you know you have Rishabh Pant, who is a fabulous batsman, and that is why you are not playing Wriddhiman Saha."
"But if he doesn't score runs, it will be a problem. There will be a problem with his way of playing. Your team is stuck, and you are stepping out and playing. My way or the highway works, but I think that is an area of concern."
The fourth Test begins at the Kennington Oval on September 2.