Rishabh Pant should be in India’s T20 World Cup 2022 squad, says Ricky Ponting: Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has backed young Indian wicketkeeper batter, Rishabh Pant to be in India’s T20 World Cup squad 2022 adding that the flamboyant cricketer would be “exceptionally dangerous for India” in the good flat pitches Down Under.
Ponting who has watched Pant grow from close quarters in Delhi Capitals reckons the batter can provide good support to the Indian team with the skill set he offers.
Notably, Rishabh Pant has been scrutinised by the fans, lately, for his poor captaincy standards in the IPL 2022. Delhi Capitals was denied entry to the IPL 2022 playoff due to a couple of leadership blunders from skipper Rishabh Pant in their last league stage match against Mumbai Indians.
Adding more to Rishabh’s leadership woes, team India received a hammering at the hands of South Africa, even after scoring over 200 runs total. With the loss, India missed its chance to create a world record of 13 consecutive victories in the T20Is. Also, this is the first time when India has lost a T20I match after scoring in excess of 200 runs.
Ricky Ponting, in ICC Review, reckons Rishabh Pant would be a player to watch out for in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
“He’s (Pant) a wonderful player. He is just an outstanding young man who has got the world at his feet and he’ll be exceptionally dangerous for India, especially on the wickets we’ll provide in Australia… good flat, fast, bouncy wickets. He’ll be one of the players to watch out for in the tournament,” opined Pointing on ICC Review.
Further, the Aussie legendary batter wants team India to use Pant more as a floater who can come-in in the second phase of the innings when 7-8 overs are left and play his natural destructive game.
“I reckon having him as a floater. I think I’ll probably have him listed at No. 5 somewhere in the batting line-up. But, I think, when some situations come where it gets to a stage where it’s 7-8 overs to go and might be 1-2 (wickets) down, then I think I’ll look at sending him in and giving him as much time as I possibly can,” added Pointing.
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The Delhi Capitals’ head coach mentioned that the 24-years old Indian glovesman was utterly frustrated with his mediocre outing in the IPL.
“He’s that dynamic and explosive player… that’s certainly the way I’d look at trying to use him. He was really frustrated with his IPL because he went into the tournament getting better than I’ve ever seen him bat before, and even by his own admission, he said the same thing to me. (In fact), halfway through the tournament, he was getting the results that he probably deserved,” added Ponting.
“And I kept reinforcing that thing to him at the nets that’s a T20 game. You make a little error of judgement (and) all of a sudden your game is over if you are cruising around at 35 or whatever… and that’s sort of how it felt for him,” added the Australian.
Quite interestingly, team India and the management have invested heavily in the services of Rishabh Pant over the last few years. Pant was given his fair share of chances in the Indian team to prove his worth as a dynamic wicketkeeper batter, which he indeed grabbed with both hands open.
However, of late, his performance has taken a slight hit. His explosive batting has become a rare sight in international cricket. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to watch how the young wicketkeeper shapes his innings in the upcoming few T20I matches against South Africa.
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