Vikram Rathour confident of Rishabh Pant emerging as match-winner: India’s batting coach has lent strong support to the rookie wicket-keeper batsman.
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India batting coach Vikram Rathour believes that out of favour wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant has it in it to become a “special player” for India once he starts delivering according to his potential.
“He [Rishabh Pant] hasn’t had a great last year and hasn’t done too well in international cricket. He still has the backing of the team management and we believe he is a special player. He can still bring a lot to the Indian cricket team once he starts scoring,” Pant was quoted as saying by SportsKeeda.
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Pant, 22, has been subject to severe criticism in the recent past. On most occasions, fans have failed to fathom the reasoning behind him getting frequent chances despite below par returns.
In 28 matches for India across formats in the last one year, Pant has scored 576 runs at an average of 23.04 including only two half-centuries. It is a primary reason why he has lost the race of Lokesh Rahul in the last few months or so.
Vikram Rathour confident of Rishabh Pant emerging as match-winner
Rathour also reflected upon how replacing veteran wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni across formats is no mean task. “MS Dhoni is still around, we don’t know what is happening with him, but replacing someone like him is not and was never going to be easy, with the kind of stature he had in international cricket,” Rathour said.
A mentor and a friend. Thank you for the guidance @RaviShastriOfc sir. Have a good one. Happy Birthday 🥳 pic.twitter.com/KJ0efGrjln
— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) May 27, 2020
Laying emphasis on continuing to back the southpaw, Rathour expressed confidence in Pant becoming a match-winner for India despite his recent lean patch at the highest level.
“He’s working really hard on the physical aspect, he is training hard, he is practising hard, and I have absolutely no doubt that if we keep backing him, eventually he will be a match-winner for Team India,” Rathour concluded.
