Former Indian Cricket Hemang Badani has come out in support of out-of-form Rishabh Pant. He feels that although the keeper batter has not delivered in T20Is but he has a good record in ODIs and it’s not right to judge his talent as a player based on the T20I performances.
“In the ODIs, he hasn’t done that badly in the format,” Hemang Badani on Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant has become the centre of attraction for his poor performances of late in white-ball cricket. Rated as a ‘generational talent’, the keeper batter hasn’t done justice to his reputation in T20Is even after playing more than 60 games.
Clouds are really hovering over the place of Rishabh Pant in the Indian team. His continuous failures in the T20Is have put his place under scanner even in the ODIs despite having a good record in the 50-over format. The keeper batter was India’s first-choice player in all three formats but of late nothing has been going his way.
With Sanju Samson also in the side, many have started to lash out at Pant for blocking his way. They feel that the southpaw is a burden for Team as his performances are not up to the mark and it is because of him Samson has been sidelined.
Rishabh Pant has earned each chance he’s getting unlike Rohit Sharma & KL Rahul who flopped in two consecutive world cups. Yes he’s struggling at the moment but he is a champion 🇮🇳@RishabhPant17
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) November 30, 2022
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Pant failed to set the stage on fire in New Zealand as he failed miserably in both T20I as well as ODI series. He was given the opportunity to open the innings in the T20I series. But he failed to grab the spot as he bagged failures in both matches. The same story continued in the ODI series as well as he looked scratchy and gave away his wickets for low totals in three games.
Hemang Bandani however, has come out in favour of Pant and said that people shouldn’t judge the keeper batter based on his performances in T20Is. Speaking to My Khel, he said:
“My simple take on this is that he is a no-brainer in Tests let’s keep that aside. In T20s, yes, his numbers don’t respect the potential and the talent he has. Especially, what we expect of him. In the ODIs, he hasn’t done that badly in the format. In the New Zealand series, yes he failed to deliver.”
“We end up claiming ‘Oh his numbers are bad in the white ball format’. But Pant has done well in the ODIs,” Hemang Badani
Hemang Badani further went on to say that, people end up claiming that Pant’s numbers are bad in the white ball format’. But he has done well in the ODIs. He added:
“But most of us end up clubbing T20 and if a player does badly in one format we end up claiming ‘Oh his numbers are bad in the white ball format’. But Pant has done well in the ODIs. In the last ODI series he played, he slammed a century, and we are talking about a knock which was 3-4 innings prior to the Bangladesh series. So, I don’t think he’s done badly in the ODIs, he did fail in New Zealand but we end up clubbing his performances of T20Is.”
Pant notably, has been released from the ODI side for the series against Bangladesh. He will join the team ahead of the Test series.
