How Rishabh Pant is making his selection to India's 2024 T20 World Cup squad look like a masterstroke

A dicey pitch, with overcast conditions, a lost toss and two early wickets. Multiple factors against India and there was Rishabh Pant, swatting away at deliveries as if he was at home trying to enjoy life in his own unique way.

There was an edge, an attempted flick through mid-wicket that ended up evading a diving cover. There was another edge, this time an expansive drive that saw the ball whizz past first slip and then another drive that forced the ball to zip over first slip. It was the only way Rishabh Pant decided to counter conditions and he was trying to mitigate the adversities - all by himself.

Rishabh Pant has been batting at number three this World Cup and this has given India a left-hander at the top of the order to toy with bowlers' plans.

After this edgy start, Pant scratched the surface, gave a fist bump to Axar Patel and took strike against Haris Rauf. The pacer who ran in and delivered some really quick deliveries was spanked for three consecutive fours - no more edges here. The first was a drive through extra cover. And then the next two had Pant on his backside, sending the ball to either side of fine leg. He fell over but middled the ball.

Imad Wasim was then introduced and Pant tried to reverse flick him over short third man and backward point. There were a number of failed attempts, but he collected one and sent the ball racing to the backward point boundary. It was a charmed life - edges and mishits kept eluding fielders and the ball kept falling in vacant areas. However, he powered India to 80 runs at the end of 10 overs and looked to take the Men in Blue to a total that could well have been beyond Pakistan’s reach.

The Rishabh Pant process - all by his own

Pant at 3 is looking like a masterstroke [Getty Images]

There were plenty of furrowed eyebrows when the left-hander was picked in India’s squad despite having modest T20I numbers. He was in good form for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL in the middle order, but when he walked out to bat at number three in the warm-up match, there were rather unconvincing arguments behind this move. Sanju Samson is a more natural top-order batter in this format, yet, India went ahead with the left-hander.

Pant has looked to get cracking from ball one and seems a different batter with this approach in the first six overs. Against Ireland, he found a method to dominate on a wild pitch and even ended the match with an audacious reverse lap off a seamer. Although his innings against Pakistan was wild and a bit too edgy, he dared to counter the conditions and stamp his authority.

Pakistan, on the other hand, wanted to go the other way, take the game deep and rely mostly on accumulation. When the game was done, Pant’s innings proved to be the difference and intent, a word strewn around in T20s, was the deciding factor.

Two games is still a very small sample size, but Rishabh Pant has shown that he has rediscovered his batting mojo at number three and if his sharp wicket-keeping skills are anything to go by, he has found a slot and is in a positive space.

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Fit and firing - Rishabh Pant is in the zone [Getty Images]

Against Pakistan, Rishabh Pant could never really cut loose and yet had an impact. These are some good signs for India as they look to march into the Super 8 stage - for Pant lying outside off stump and sending the ball scuttling past short fine leg is a sight that has given India plenty to cherish over the last few years across different formats.

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