Former Indian head coach Sanjay Bangar has suggested Rishabh Pant to open the innings to solve his batting problems.
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The form of Rishabh Pant is the most talked-about issue after the completion of the India vs South Africa T20I series. India managed to level the series after two games on the trot, but the batting form of Rishabh Pant was nowhere close to his best.
Pant managed to score just 58 runs in the series at an average of 14.50. Many former cricketers have questioned the place of Rishabh in the T20I squad after the emergence of Dinesh Karthik as a potential wicket-keeper. However, Rahul Dravid has asserted his confidence in Rishabh Pant.
Sanjay Bangar suggests Rishabh Pant to open
Former Indian head coach Sanjay Bangar has given his views on the batting voes of Rishabh Pant. Bangar said that India should use Pant like Australia used Adam Gilchrist. Pant has been criticized for repeating the same mistakes again and again by many former cricketers.
Sanjay Bangar cited the example of Sachin Tendulkar, who took over 70 innings to score his first international century, and it came as an opener only. Bangar said that the same can be tried with Pant as well.
“I’ve been thinking about it for three years. If you look at Sachin Tendulkar’s career, he hit his first century in his 75th or 76th innings when he was asked to open the innings against New Zealand after batting largely in the middle-order,” Sanjay Bangar said on Star Sports.
For all the Rishabh Pant critics, gist of head coach Rahul Dravid’s post-match presser
“Pant is an integral part of this batting line-up and features big in our plans going into the next few months.” #CricketTwitter— Kushan Sarkar (@kushansarkar) June 19, 2022
Pant opened for India in the U-19 World Cup in 2016, whereas he used to open for the Delhi domestic side as well. He scored the fastest T20 century by an Indian as an opener only. Bangar said that team India is looking for a right-left combination at the top, and Rishabh can be the one to do that job.
“Right now, the Indian team is looking at a left-right combination. Yes, Ishan Kishan is doing good right now, but if the Indian team is eyeing a left-right opening pair for the long term, Rishabh Pant can do the same job that someone like Adam Gilchrist did for Australia,” Bangar added.
