India wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant is known for his attacking approach and explosive batting in the limited-overs cricket. However, the youngster eventually failed to cash upon the chances he received recently. The 21-year-old once against failed to impress as he threw his wicket away to debutant spinner Bjorn Fortuin. India skipper Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma cautioned Pant ahead of India's final and third T20I against Proteas on Sunday.


“Its high time, he should be careful, T20 is his favourite format and he is not able to perform. He has quality strokes, he is an impact player and a match-winner too but unfortunately, he is not delivering,” Sharma was quoted as saying by ANI.

Chief selector MSK Prasad led committee is now thinking to groom backups for Pant across formats.

“We are monitoring the workload of Rishabh. Of course, we have been grooming backups across all formats. We have the young KS Bharath doing well in the longer format for India A. We also have Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson doing well in the shorter formats for India ‘A’ and domestic cricket,” Prasad was quoted as saying.

However, the selectors haven’t lost faith in Pant’s ability. “I have already said that post World Cup we have been concentrating on the progress of Rishabh. We need to be patient with him, considering the immense talent that he possesses,” the chief selector added.

Ahead of the 2nd match, newly-appointed batting coach Vikram Rathore also stressed on the fact that Pant needs to think his innings through.

“I think he is a phenomenal player. There is no doubt about that. But what he needs to do is to sort his game plan. He needs to be more disciplined and all the young players like him need to understand that there is a fine line between fearless cricket and careless cricket,” Rathour had said.