India head coach Rahul Dravid said on Sunday, November 6 that the team management hasn’t lost confidence in Rishabh Pant and that the leadership group has full faith in all the 15 players who are part of India’s squad. Dravid backed Pant after the wicketkeeper-batter got his first chance in T20 World Cup 2022 in their final Super 12 match against Zimbabwe in Melbourne.
India preferred Dinesh Karthik over Rishabh Pant in the first 4 matches of the Super 12 stages, a move that they had hinted at during their Asia Cup campaign where the veteran wicketkeeper-batter got most of the chances. Pant, who was warming the benches, got an opportunity in India’s XI against Zimbabwe with captain Rohit Sharma confirming that the team wanted to give the young wicketkeeper an opportunity ahead of the semi-finals.
Pant hasn’t lived up to expectations in the shortest format of the game, scoring less than 1000 runs in 63 T20Is at an average of less than 25. Pant had led India in a home series against South Africa earlier this year but the star batter fell down the pecking order after Dinesh Karthik’s stunning return to the senior national team following a terrific IPL 2022 campaign.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not that we ever lost confidence in Rishabh. We have got confidence in all the 15 players in the squad. It’s only 11 guys who can play. It depends on the combination that you have to play,” Dravid said.
“The very fact that they are here and part of the World Cup tells you that we have confidence in them. It means that any time we can call them to play. When you pick 15 from so many other options, that means you have got a lot of confidence in your 15. Some people, sometimes, miss out.
“Rishabh has been batting a lot in the nets, do a lot of wicketkeeping practice, he is keeping himself ready,” he added.
