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'He hasn't really looked the same Rishabh Pant': Former batter says India captain has to replicate Test form in T20s
Rishabh Pant has been inconsistent with the bat in T20 cricket and the re-emergence of Dinesh Karthik and presence of Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul as wicketkeeping options has led to questions being raised over his spot in the team going into the 2022 T20 World Cup
One of the spotlights on Friday during India's fourth T20I against South Africa could be on the hosts' captain Rishabh Pant. Pant's inconsistency in the shortest format of the game has come to notice and a number of former players have pointed out that, with the re-emergence of Dinesh Karthik and the presence of Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul as wicketkeeping options, Pant's place may not be set in stone, despite him being captain for this series.
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Pant fell for scores of six and five in the third and second T20Is respectively and scored 29 off 15 balls in the first. While being known for being an aggressive batter, Pant has scored just 723 runs in 46 matches at an average of 46.32 and a middling strike rate of 125.95.
He has had far more success in Test cricket despite often being called reckless, having scored 1920 runs in 30 matches at an average of 40.85 with four centuries to his name. Former batters Wasim Jaffer and Sanjay Manjrekar have said that Pant will have to pull up his socks to stay in the T20 squad. Now, former Aakash Chopra has also chimed in.
“Rishabh Pant is the big question. He will have to score a few more runs,” said Chopra in a video posted on his Youtube page.
“He played a slightly significant knock in the first match, short but quick, which did the job but after that, he hasn't really looked the same Rishabh Pant. Interestingly, he is a class player in Tests but it keeps going up and down for him in T20s,” said Chopra.
Pant was originally supposed to be vice-captain to KL Rahul in the series but was elevated to captaincy after the latter was ruled out due to injury.
