Indian Keeper Dinesh Karthik Dissects Why Rishabh Pant Should Open In T20Is

In the recently concluded T20 World Cup, Pant played only two matches, one against Zimbabwe in Super 12 and the other one against England which was the semi-final.

Rishabh Pant in action.

Source : Getty

New Delhi: Rishabh Pant has been struggling to score runs in the shortest format of the game for quite some time now. The kind of potential he has shown in the red ball format, Pant is yet to prove himself in the same manner in the white ball format. In the recently concluded T20 World Cup, Pant played only two matches, one against Zimbabwe in Super 12 and the other one against England which was the semi-final.

India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik talked about Rishabh Pant and told Cricbuzz, “We know one thing for sure, Rishabh Pant's ability to play shots. And when the field is up, he can go gung-ho in the powerplay so we can give him the opportunity to open. Interestingly, stats also reflect that his strike rate is highest when he opens. He likes the field up, he likes to take on bowlers and put them under pressure”.

"I think it will be very interesting to see where they bat Rishabh Pant. Big question for Team India is how they will be using Rishabh Pant and I think we will be seeing him at the top of the order and trying to give him enough balls to showcase his skills. He is second to none when it comes to stroke play and has baffled a lot of international bowlers of high pedigree. We need to embrace the fact that there will be a few failures from him, but when he gets going, he is a terrific player to watch," he added.

Karthik also stated: "I think Rishabh Pant has sealed his spot in Test cricket and to a large extent in ODI cricket as well. In T20s, he bats in a different position for his franchise and comes in a different spot in the Indian team and they are trying to figure out where to fit him."

"When you have Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya, where do you fit in a Rishabh Pant? We do need a left-hander, but where do we play him? We know what Kohli does at No.3. Let's not even talk about Suryakumar Yadav, he's the best in the business in the world. Immediately we come down to Pant at No.5. Do we want him to bat there or let's see if we can give him the opportunity to open," he added.

Pant is currently featuring in the Indian team for the series against New Zealand. The left-handed batter has been made the vice-captain for the series.

India squad: Hardik Pandya (C), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), W Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik.