Former India opener Wasim Jaffer has expressed concern about Rishabh Pant’s form in T20i cricket, saying the wicketkeeper-batter has not been able to replicate his success in Tests in the shortest format of the game. Jaffer went on to say that Pant is not a certainty in the Indian side in T20I cricket.
Pant had a decent IPL 2022 campaign with Delhi Capitals wherein he scored 340 runs in 14 matches but he has been struggling to get going in the ongoing T20i series, having managed just 34 runs in 3 matches. Pant has thrown his wickets away more than once as South Africa bowlers have smartly stayed from his hitting arc.
“You’ve got KL Rahul. Once he comes back, he walks into the side. He’s a wicketkeeper as well. If Dinesh Karthik is certain to play, then again, he is also a wicketkeeper. So, I am not too sure. The way Rishabh Pant has played recently, I won’t call him a certainty,” Jaffer told ESPNcricinfo.
“I think he still needs to score runs and score them pretty consistently. He hasn’t done that in the IPL. He hasn’t done it in many T20Is.
“I’ve said that many times – the way he has played in Test cricket, the way he has played in quite a few ODI innings as well, he hasn’t done that in T20Is. So, I won’t say that Rishabh Pant is a certainty for me (in T20Is) going forward,” he added.
Pant has been a prolific run-getter in Tests but the aggressive batter has managed just 723 runs in 46 T20Is at a paltry average of fewer than 24 runs per innings. Pant has hit only 3 fifties in his T20I career.
