Rishabh Pant will get back his mojo, don’t push him
Posted September 26th, 2019, 10:10 AM IST
A critical look at his batting would throw forth the analysis that he tends to mishit in the air early in the innings.
Instead of trying to talk to him on how to be wiser at the crease, he is being pressured through menacing warnings that he would be dropped if he did not heed. And, as it invariably happens under pressure, he mishit twice in two T20is and is looking terribly vulnerable in his career.
Any more misadventures by the bright batting prospect, who began his Test career with a six, and Team India would not hesitate to go right back to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. No one would hold anything against Dhoni because he has contributed so much when he was younger. As an abler batsman he became the finest finisher in the game after that end game player of such certitude that he never seemed to make a mistake in the face of a target — Michael Bevan.
While a nice kind of farewell game or series would be apt for Dhoni, it might be stretching things if we were to think of him as the keeper-batsman for the T20i Worlds in Australia next year. If a younger and better ‘keeper than Pant is sighted, it might be nice to see him given a place, but to go back to Dhoni for one more T20i Worlds 12 years after his first in 2007 would be a bridge too far. Time waits for no man, not even such a clever user of his resources like Dhoni.
The fact that Team India never recaptured the magic of that first World T20i should not be held altogether against Dhoni. He led the team on into more T20i Worlds but no combination proved capable of stunning the world like the first one did. The ‘will he play or not’ wait on Virender Sehwag ruined the effort in England that followed the successful one in South Africa. The next one in the Caribbean was an absolute washout and even when we came near enough again winning the cup later, it was not to be.
It’s arguable whether Indians lost that wonderful capacity to attack as never symbolised better than in Yuvraj Singh’s six sixes in an over of Stuart Broad. That kind of magic may not happen more than once in a lifetime. But the general bustling aggression you need to win a T20i and the ability to keep the nerve while doing so has not been sighted in a Team India again. The hard wickets of Australia might make it even harder for Virat Kohli’s men in 2020.
Any coach worth his salt would advise Pant that the only thing wrong with his cricket is his early aggression in which he finds himself compelled to take the aerial route. If his shot selection were to improve to the extent that he knocks the ball around more thoughtfully early on as he tried to in Bangalore before he succumbed to the big shot again, Pant might live up to his potential. There is scope even for a middle distance horse in a sprint if the preparation and tactical thinking are right.
Team India have invested much time in Pant and to let him go now would be a waste of the efforts of grooming a rare talent. All attacking batsmen face this problem of analysts trying to make them dumb down their attacking instincts in order to score more. But in Pant’s case, a little more patience might be advisable so that he might unleash his ability to clear the ground when he has built himself into a platform from where outright aggression could come without inhibition and with more precision in converting intent into stroke. And who better to talk to than Delhi colleague Virat Kohli who could teach him a thing or two about shot selection!
- BATC: Indian women’s team reaches maiden final with 3-2 win over Japan
- India defeat England by 106 runs to level five-Test series 1-1
- FIR against gaming site, FB page as Tendulkar raises concerns over his deepfake video
- Telangana Sailors Shine at National Sailing Championships, Bag Medals
- Inaugural Edition of Indian Street Premier League to Begin from March 2
- Thrilled to welcome Hardik back home to Mumbai Indians, says Nita Ambani
- Techie dies of heart attack as India loses to Australia in World Cup final
- Carlos Alcaraz set to make ATP finals debut in Turin
- Pandya had hurt his left ankle while fielding of his own bowling in the game against Bangladesh in Pune on October 19
- Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek win their WTA Finals opening matches in straight sets
- Berlin to Host Germany's First Major WWE
- Para Asian Games: Gold rush continues as Deepthi Jeevanji clinches gold in women’s 400m-T20 final
- Indian cricket legend Bishan Singh Bedi passes away
- CWC 2023: After big ton, Warner credits IPL for success in ODIs
- India-Australia T20 set to dazzle Visakhapatnam
More Sports News
- Aditi Rao Hydari misses ‘Heeramandi’ event after wedding
- Bigg Boss winner Munawar Faruqui among 14 detained in Mumbai raid
- Mrunal Thakur follows ‘grandma diet,’ believes in not skipping meals
- Selena Gomez shares makeup-free selfies on Instagram
- Diljit collaborates with Saweetie for ‘Khutti’ Song, says ‘she just landed in Punjab’
- Malaika Arora, Arjun Kapoor, Richa, Ali Fazal, Farah, and more at KJo’s Bash
- Jamie Lever is ‘honoured’ to represent her heritage with Telugu debut film
- Janhvi and Aditya Roy Kapur shine on the ramp for Kalki at Lakme Fashion Week x FDCI
- I am fond of Kate Moss, says Diana Penty, about her fashion icon
- Kriti Kharbanda, Pulkit Samrat share pictures from dreamy wedding
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(): http:// wrapper is disabled in the server configuration by allow_url_fopen=0
Filename: views/newsdetails.php
Line Number: 29
Backtrace:
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/views/newsdetails.php
Line: 29
Function: file_get_contents
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 135
Function: view
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 77
Function: newsdetails
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/index.php
Line: 315
Function: require_once
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(http://www.indiaaffiliates.in/ads.php?size=300X250): failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found
Filename: views/newsdetails.php
Line Number: 29
Backtrace:
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/views/newsdetails.php
Line: 29
Function: file_get_contents
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 135
Function: view
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 77
Function: newsdetails
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/index.php
Line: 315
Function: require_once