'When he played that shot, I was like he has to be in T20 WC': Agarkar told to bring back India star after IPL heroics

Stuart Broad spoke in detail about the Team India star, who has made a strong impression in the early games of IPL 2024

As the date nears for the announcement of Team India's 2024 T20 World Cup squad, the speculations have increased over many names that remain in contention for the final 15. This year's Indian Premier League is key to all the players in contention, and one of them is the side's returning wicketkeeper-batter, Rishabh Pant.

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma and BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar address a press conference(ANI )

The Delhi Capitals captain made a return to competitive cricket in the IPL this year after over 14 months away from the game following a near-fatal car accident in December 2022. However, despite the additional pressure of being the captain and keeping behind the wickets, Pant looked far from rusty on his return to the sport and has notched up two half-centuries in DC's first six matches; his current run-tally stands at 194 runs at an impressive strike rate of 157.72.

Pant is also the highest run-scorer for the Capitals in the ongoing season so far, and former England pacer Stuart Broad believes Pant should be India's wicketkeeper-batter when the side eventually returns to action at the T20 World Cup in June.

Broad stated that while he had his doubts over Pant's fitness when the season began, they vanished once he saw a particular shot from the batter during the match against Kolkata Knight Riders.

“The selection for the Indian team is up in the air a little bit. You have some players pending in that team. Rishabh Pant's probably the one on whom there's a lot of discussion about. There was a shot I saw him play against KKR, a no-look flick over deep square leg for six. The moment he played that shot, I thought, he has got to be in that T20 World Cup squad. He's ready. He's good to go,” Broad told Star Sports.

Would like to see him as Impact Player

Broad, however, also stressed the need to manage Pant's workload despite his solid performances. The former England pacer stated that DC could use Pant as a batter in “a couple of matches”; earlier in the season, Lucknow Super Giants had also used their skipper KL Rahul as an Impact Player, with Nicholas Pooran leading the side.

“He has taken a huge amount on, he's been out of the game for such a long period. He's captain, he's wicketkeeper, he's batting 3, 4, 5. There's a huge amount on his plate already. I'd like to see him be an Impact Sub in a couple of games, take a bit of the workload off his shoulders,” said Broad.

“But as soon as he played that shot... it wasn't determined, he saw the line, and it went for six. And I thought, that guy had to play. That tells me his match sharpness is already up to speed. He's a match-winner, so I think if I was the selector, he'd be my wicketkeeper in the World Cup squad.”