Former Indian captain Kapil Dev gave his take on the ongoing debate over the future of young wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant in the Indian team. Pant was replaced by KL Rahul behind the wickets after picking up an injury in the ODI series against Australia at home. He has recovered from the injury but has failed to make the cut into the playing XI after Rahul’s impressive show.
Rahul has been one of the most consistent performers with the bat for India in limited-overs cricket in the last few months. He has now been trusted with the wicket-keeper’s role by the team management and skipper Virat Kohli. Rahul has so far been excellent in the dual role as keeper-batsman and done enough to keep Pant out.
World Cup-winning captain Dev believes the only way for Pant to get back into the playing XI is to score runs when he gets the opportunity. “Pant is so talented. He cannot blame anybody. He has to look after his own career. The only way for him is to keep on getting runs and prove everybody wrong. When you are talented, it is your job to prove people wrong,” Dev was quoted as saying by PTI.
“The players have to look after themselves. They should never give the option to the selectors to drop them or give them a rest,” he added.
Dev also talked about the Indian cricket team’s current tight schedule. Questions have been raised over the workload of the Indian team with the Men in Blue playing constant cricket over the last few months. India faced South Africa, Bangladesh and West Indies at home before playing Sri Lanka and Australia earlier this month in a limited-overs series. The Indian team is currently in New Zealand for a full-fledged tour consisting of five T20Is, three T20Is and two Tests.
