Former India batsman V.V.S Laxman is of the strong opinion that young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is not able to perform at his newly handed No. 4 batting spot and hence he should come down the order in order to express himself more freely at the international stage.

Pant has been under the scanner of many critics following his dismal performance at the much-debated No.4 spot, particularly because of him throwing  away his wicket rather cheaply on account of poor shot selection in limited-overs cricket.

On Sunday evening, the 21-year-old once again failed with the bat as he scored a 20-ball 19 during the third T20I which India lost by nine wickets against South Africa.

"Every player goes through this phase, his natural game is free flowing but suddenly he is not gaining the same results.

"He is trying to evolve and trying to add different dimensions to his game by rotating the strike that we saw in the previous match but unfortunately, his shot selection at the start of the innings has not been great," he added.

The former Indian batsman further advised the team management to have Pant bat at number 5 or 6.

"Pant should bat at number 5 and 6, where you have the license to go out and express yourself and at the moment he doesn't know the right method of scoring runs at number 4.

Laxman said either Shreyas Iyer or Hardik Pandya can bat at No. 4 as they have more experience. "There are other people to bat at number 4 like Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer who are experienced and could play at that spot."

According to Laxman, Pant is under a lot of pressure currently as he is replacing veteran M.S. Dhoni.

"He also has a lot of pressure as he is taking the place of MS Dhoni who has done a lot for Indian cricket, to get his confidence back the team management needs to let him go bat at number 5 or 6 and express himself," said Laxman.