"The way Rishabh Pant has played recently, I won't call him a certainty" - Wasim Jaffer unsure about youngster's T20I spot
Former India batter Wasim Jaffer has stated that he is unsure of keeper-batter Rishabh Pant’s place in the T20I playing XI going forward. The 24-year-old is India's stand-in captain for the ongoing series against South Africa. However, according to Jaffer, the left-hander hasn’t done well enough in the format to be termed a certainty.
Pant has struggled with the bat in the ongoing T20I series against South Africa so far, having registered scores of 29, 5 and 6. His shot selection has also come under the scanner. The aggressive batter had a poor IPL 2022 campaign as well. Leading the Delhi Capitals (DC), he scored 340 runs in 14 matches with a best of 44.
Reflecting on the cricketer’s consistently poor returns in the T20 format, Jaffer said that he might not feature in the Indian playing XI regularly in the upcoming matches. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, he opined:
“You’ve got KL Rahul. Once he comes back, he walks into the side. He’s a wicketkeeper as well. If Dinesh Karthik is certain to play, then again, he is also a wicketkeeper. So, I am not too sure. The way Rishabh Pant has played recently, I won’t call him a certainty.”
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Jaffer added that while the keeper-batter has excelled in Tests and has also played a few good knocks in the one-day format, the same cannot be said about his T20 career. He elaborated:
“I think he still needs to score runs and score them pretty consistently. He hasn’t done that in the IPL. He hasn’t done it in many T20Is. I’ve said that many times - the way he has played in Test cricket, the way he has played in quite a few ODI innings as well, he hasn’t done that in T20Is. So, I won’t say that Rishabh Pant is a certainty for me (in T20Is) going forward.”
Pant will be leading India when they face the Proteas in Rajkot on Friday (June 17), in the fourth T20I of the five-match series.
Rishabh Pant’s career stats
The 24-year-old has featured in 30 Tests so far in which he has scored 1920 runs at an average of 40.85 with four hundreds. In 24 ODIs, he has 715 runs at an average of 32.50.
Grit.
Resilience.
Compassion
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His T20I numbers are rather underwhelming. In 46 games, he has 723 runs at an average of 23.32 and a strike rate of 125.95.