"How will you tell him not to express himself?" - Former Indian cricketer on Rishabh Pant's dismissals in T20 World Cup 2024
Former Indian wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta understands the frustration of the fans with the way Rishabh Pant got dismissed in the Men in Blue's T20 World Cup encounter against Bangladesh. Pant was batting well when he decided to play a reverse sweep off the leg-spinner Rishad Hossain and got caught at short third man.
The southpaw was also dismissed trying a similar shot in the previous game against Afghanistan when he was trapped in front off Rashid Khan's bowling. Dasgupta feels the team management may find it tricky to strike a right balance between allowing Pant the freedom to express himself and also telling him to not be reckless.
Speaking alongside former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh on Star Sports Game Plan, here's what Deep Dasgupta had to say:
"How will you tell him (Pant) not to express himself and not play the reverse sweep? (laughs). He plays that shot well against the pacers too. So it does become a bit tricky for the coaches as while you want him to play his natural game, you also want him not to be dismissed. So I think the talk would be to tell him to play however he wants as long as he is not getting dismissed."
Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh shed light on Hardik Pandya's fantastic knock of 50* off 27 balls against Bangladesh. Having seen the tough time Hardik went through as captain of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024, Harbhajan accepted that he hadn't thought the all-rounder would shine so brightly so soon.
Harbhajan Singh on Glenn Maxwell threat for India
India are set to lock horns with Australia in St. Lucia on Monday and one of the batters the Men in Blue would have plans in place against would be Glenn Maxwell. While Maxwell is fresh off a fifty against Afghanistan, Harbhajan Singh feels Indian spinners have generally done well against the Aussie and that he won't be able to dominate them.
On this, Harbhajan stated:
"Kuldeep has been bowling well on these slow wickets and hasn't given the batters too many balls to rock back on the back foot and hit him for sixes. So you will need to step out to him which is tricky. While Maxwell is unpredictable and can explode at either end, I feel he has scored his runs for the season against Afghanistan and I think Kuldeep will dominate him."
With wins over Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the Men in Blue already have a foot in the semifinals. Australia, on the other hand, lost to Afghanistan in their previous game and will go into the match against India knowing that it is a virtual knockout for them.
Afghanistan will play Bangladesh on Friday and will know the exact scenario needed for them to qualify for the semifinals.