Cricket News

Rishabh Pant can’t be a certainty in the T20 side with his inconsistent performances, reckons Wasim Jaffer

Former Indian Opener Wasim Jaffer feels that Rishabh Pant needs to perform consistently in order to feature regularly in the Indian T20 team. Pant was appointed as the captain of the team for the ongoing series after KL Rahul suffered a groin injury. The wicket-keeper batter has scored a string of low scores in the series. His scores in three matches read 29, 5, and 6.

Jaffer emphasized the fact that India have many options for a wicket-keeper batter at the moment. With KL Rahul certain to make a comeback, Dinesh Karthik making a comeback in this series, and Ishan Kishan performing consistently, the competition has certainly increased. Pant has scored 723 runs at an average of 23.32 in 46 T20Is in his career at a strike rate of 126.18. The wicketkeeper has not done justice to his talent with such numbers in the shortest format.

“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,” Jaffer told ESPNcricinfo.

“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,” he added.

As India take the field today at 7:00 PM at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot for the fourth T20I against South Africa, all eyes will be on Rishabh Pant and his performance with the bat. With the 20-20 world cup just 4 months away, Pant would be keen to get some runs under his belt.