India’s wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant finally got to play his first match of the ICC T20 World Cup at the MCG against Zimbabwe. India won the match, but Pant failed with the bat. However, Indian coach Rahul Dravid has clearly said that they have not lost their confidence in Pant.
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Ahead of the tournament, the Indian team management needed to take a call between Pant and Dinesh Karthik for the keeper spot, and they went in with Karthik who has done great as a finisher in the recent past. Although, DK has failed to impress in the tournament so far.
Pant has sealed his place in India’s test and ODI squads, but he is yet to make his mark in T20Is. The southpaw has scored 964 T20I runs in 63 matches at 23.51 at a poor S/R of 127.18. He is certainly more talented than that and will want to prove himself in the tournament.
Rahul Dravid asserts faith in Rishabh Pant despite recent failures
Rahul Dravid has said that they never lost confidence in Rishabh Pant at all. Pant opened in the warm-up matches against Western Australia in Perth, but he could not impress. With KL Rahul opening with Rohit, it was not possible for Pant to play at the top order obviously.
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Dravid said that he has confidence in all the players of the team, and the combination depends upon the match conditions. He said that any player in whom he won’t have confidence will not be selected for the World Cup squad at all. Dravid revealed that Pant was always great in training to be ready when required.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not that we ever lost confidence in Rishabh. We have got confidence in all the 15 players in the squad. It’s only 11 guys who can play. It depends on the combination that you have to play.”
Rahul Dravid on Rishabh Pant’s performance vs England
Rishabh Pant played his first T20 World Cup 2022 match against Zimbabwe, but he failed to impress. Although, Dravid said that he is not bothered at all, and they don’t judge any player on the basis of just one match. He said that they tried Pant to attack against the left-arm spinners, and he got out in doing the job assigned to him.
Dravid insists that the attacking approach will come out good in some matches, and it can backfire as well. With Adil Rashid in England’s Arsenal, India may need a left-handed batter again in their lineup.
“It didn’t kind of work out today after we gave him an opportunity. I am absolutely not bothered at all. I think he took the right option. His role was to take on the left-arm spinner which was there, sometimes, it comes off and sometimes it doesn’t. We don’t judge players based on one game,” Rahul Dravid added.
