Vikram Rathour confident of Rishabh Pant emerging as match-winner for India

Vikram Rathour confident of Rishabh Pant emerging as match-winner: India’s batting coach has lent strong support to the rookie wicket-keeper batsman.

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.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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