Rishabh Pant Needs To Match Potential With Performance In ODIs, Else Time is Running Out

It is high time Rishabh Pant fixes the gaping holes in his susceptible  technique and temperament to prove his pedigree both with the willow and gloves to remain in serious contention for booking his ticket for the showpiece event 'Down Under'. 

In every walk of life talent alone cannot be the sole catalyst to achieving success. Talent is an added bonus which is god given however it needs to be fine tuned with hard work, supreme dedication and clinical execution in-order to excel in one's chosen profession.

The same principle  applies to the sport of cricket. With India's glovesman Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the fag end of a glorious international career, the burden of filing into his big shoes is one major question which encircles Indian cricket.

Rishabh Pant has been looked upon as the heir apparent to succeed Dhoni but the stocky built  Uttarakhand lad has figured out rather early in his career that it would be one herculean task to even come closer to the legendary glovesman   . The hard hitting wicket-keeper batsman sprung into the international scene on the back of his belligerent batting heroics in the Indian Premier League and domestic cricket to book his place as India's front-line stumper in the limited overs formats. While there is not an iota of doubt over Pant's match winning ability owing to his destructive strokeplay, there is a lot he needs to improve with his shaky temperament and fallible technique. Pant has found the going tough while being donned with the responsibility of batting as high as Number 4-5 for Team India in one day internationals. On the contrary, Pant has been rather impressive with the bat during his short stint in Test  cricket. Time and again, Pant has been found gifting away his wickets courtesy a loose shot or a half hearted heave which finds himself back to the pavilion, triggering a major batting collapse. He has been repeatedly failing to convert starts into meaningful contributions. His extended run of poor scores in white ball cricket which extend from the 2019 ICC World Cup to the West Indies tour and lately in the home series against South Africa has been a major cause of worry for the 'Men in Blue' and voices from all quarters are strongly advocating for a back-up keeper or even a suitable change. Many critics have even suggested that Pant's power hitting game is ideally suited for the No 6-7 position,  where he can come out and just express himself with  quick-fire cameos. The Indian ODI middle order is still not compact and solid apart from skipper Kohli's guaranteed No.3 slot. KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer and even Ajinkya Rahane have all been pressing hard to cement their place in a lineup which still remains quite fluid and wanting for consistency . Pant has been given chances a plenty as the team management has firmly backed his immense potential to make it big in white ball cricket . However, still early in his career, performances have not matched up to the enormous faith shown by the think tank. For the record, Pant averages a meager 22 in 12 ODIs and is yet to register his maiden half ton. His record in T20 cricket is equally unimpressive with nothing major to showcase besides a few flashes of brilliance. If one were to compare that to his List A batting avg. of almost 29 and 33.67 T20 avg , it clearly indicates Pant's struggle with the willow at the international stage. To Pant's advantage, he has been an early bloomer at just 22 and still has a long way to overcome the chinks in his armour. With Dinesh Karthik over at hill at 34 and Wriddhiman Saha only picked up in Test cricket, Pant hasn't quite faced intense competition for the sole wicket-keeping slot in the shorter formats. However, he can't be one bit complacent as the likes of Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and KS Bharat have been knocking on the selectors doors with some noteworthy performances over the past few seasons  in the domestic cricket. The current Indian setup under the command and control of skipper Kohli lives by a simple phenomenon. Perform or Perish.  With Team India already flagging off its preparations with the Bangladesh T20Is for the ICC World T20 next year in Australia, it his high time Rishabh Pant fixes the gaping holes in his susceptible  technique and temperament to prove his pedigree both with the willow and gloves to remain in serious contention for booking his ticket for the showpiece event 'Down Under'.