Ajit Agarkar on Pant: Agarkar has expressed surprise at not watching Pant in Indian’s limited-overs team.
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Post a few below par performances with the bat in hand in his first two Test matches, Rishabh Pant has put on display the fact that he can be India’s next game-changer. After scoring a maiden Test century against England at The Oval, Pant hit a quickfire half-century against West Indies in the ongoing match at Rajkot.
“I can’t believe he (Pant) is not part of the India’s shorter format setup. He is naturally suited to those [limited-overs] formats. In Test cricket, I’m glad that he has gone from strength to strength. Hopefully, he continues to do that. Can turn games in a session,” Agarkar said about the 21-year old southpaw.
Agarkar further advocated regarding Pant being included for the ODI series against West Indies. He also hinted at Dhoni being rested for Pant to play. “Hopefully they do that (select Pant in ODIs) sooner, rather than later, against the West Indies in the ODI series.
“There are five ODIs and there will be an opportunity to play him somewhere, whether as a batter or a wicket-keeper. I mean you know what Dhoni can do and there is no harm in resting him for a couple of games,” he added.
Agarkar was also of the opinion of including Pant as a specialist batsman in the middle-order. “He [Pant] is a good striker of the ball and looks like a batsman for all formats of the game, he looks the part. In the top six, purely with his batting ability there no doubt in my mind that he has to be given the opportunity to see whether he is good enough. There is no left-hander [in the middle-order] and the way he strikes the ball, it is suited for any format,” he further added.
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