Rishabh Pant on Sunday was released by the Indian team ahead of the start of the ODI series against Bangladesh. There was no specifications in the statement released by BCCI on Pant's departure but it did have the words, "in consultation with the BCCI Medical Team" in it. The news came amid the ongoing criticism over his form and subsequently his place in the ODI squad as Inda began their preparation for the ODI World Cup next year. But senior India cricketer Dinesh Karthik has made a hard-hitting statement amid the ongoing criticism as he came in defense of Pant.
Pant was recently part of the limited-overs tour of New Zealand where he played two T20I innings as many in ODIs. He scored 17 runs in two matches in the T20I series and 25 in the 50-overs series.
Speaking to Cricbuzz before the Bangladesh series, Karthik urged critics to not judge Pant's place in the ODI team by his numbers in T20Is. Highlighting Pant's stellar numbers on ODIs, he felt the criticisms were all unfair.
"We need to look at it separately. In one-day cricket in the last 10 innings, he averages 45-plus. He obviously got the match-winning score of 120 (125 not out) in the recently concluded series in England. So he's done very well for himself and when someone has done very well for himself, you cannot look at him and say 'Oh he should be from one-day cricket'," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"We need to look at it separately. In one-day cricket in the last 10 innings, he averages 45-plus. He obviously got the match-winning score of 120 (125 not out) in the recently concluded series in England. So he's done very well for himself and when someone has done very well for himself, you cannot look at him and say 'Oh he should be from one-day cricket'," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"I think, you know, you need to give him the opportunity to be out there and do well and if he doesn't do well, then move on. But you can't just move away because he has done something else in another format. I think that's something that's unfair to the player as well.
"I think because of the amount of cricket, especially T20 that is played, obviously, they are comparing that and adding those scores and saying, 'Oh, he hasn't done well'. That's not how we need to look at things."
In Pant's absence, KL Rahul was picked as the wicketkeeper for the Mirpur game on Sunday and he scored a half-century while dropping a crucial catch in India's one-wicket loss.