"Until he scores runs in every game, this criticism isn't going to stop"- Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra was baffled to see the amount of stick wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was getting from fans on social media. Although Pant has been highly inconsistent in the T20I format for the Men in Blue, he has had impressive numbers in ODIs of late.
The southpaw scored just 15 runs off 23 balls in the first ODI against New Zealand and many fans slammed his selection in the team. Chopra was shocked by this as Pant had scored a match-winning hundred in just his previous ODI against England.
Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra took an indirect dig at the fans trolling Pant and here's what he had to say:
"Rishabh Pant failed and once again the talks about why he is in the playing XI have started to surface. I think until he scores runs in every game, this criticism isn't going to stop."
The amount of hate Rishabh Pant gets on this platform is unreal… 🤷♂️
Aakash Chopra also spoke about another wicketkeeper-batter in Sanju Samson, who continued his consistent run as a finisher in the ODI team. Samson scored a fine 36 and let Shreyas Iyer bat freely at the other end. On this, Chopra added:
"Sanju Samson batted really well in that partnership with Shreyas Iyer. But you want to make the most of your opportunities and score big. His numbers in the past few months have been really good."
Aakash Chopra on changes India can make
Team India may want to make some changes in their next game on Tuesday, considering that the series is on the line. The Men in Blue played with just five bowling options and that's something Aakash Chopra feels they might want to reconsider going forward.
On this, Chopra stated:
"India might want to play a sixth bowler and for that, they can maybe ask Samson to keep and bring Hooda in for Pant. They might also want to think about playing KulCha (Kuldeep Yadav & Yuzvendra chahal)."
Squad for New Zealand ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik.