Disappointing To See How Team Management Is Handling Pant: Gambhir

Pant remains the first choice across all formats, but his lack of temperament and throwing wicket away under pressure situations has often brought him under the scanner

Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir expressed how unhappy he was with the way youngster Rishabh Pant was getting handled by the Indian cricket team's management following his poor form in the ongoing home series vs Proteas. With uncertainty on Dhoni's future, Pant remains the first choice across all formats, but his lack of temperament and throwing wicket away under pressure situations has often brought him under the scanner. "Personally, I have always backed Sanju Samson ahead of Rishabh for wicketkeeper-batsman's role but it is disappointing to see the team-management using words like 'from fearless to careless', 'rap on Rishbah's knuckles' and 'need for a backup of Rishabh'," Gambhir wrote in his column for Times of India. "This is no way to handle a young human resource. Everyone wants him to play 'sensible' cricket," Gambhir added. "I don't know what that means. What I do know is that the boy is now playing for survival rather than scoring runs. From the outside it seems that his mindset is all over the place. Someone needs to put an arm around his shoulder and tell him that he is wanted in the team," he wrote. On Pant's role in team, Kohli had said that the team management didn't want youngster to change his style, but demanded more responsibility from him. "The only expectation from Rishabh is that he read situations well," captain Virat Kohli said. "We don't expect him to play the way you might be thinking. It is about analysing a situation and dealing with it in your own way." Shastri, though expressed his confidence in Pant and reiterated that once Pant corrects his shot-selection, 'he could be unstoppable'. "No one will even think of changing his style," said Shastri. "Like Virat said, reading the situation, match-awareness and shot-selection becomes crucial. If he can fathom that, he could be unstoppable."