Pant—88 off 43 balls—was at his magnificent best, hammering eight sixes and five fours at a strike rate of 204.6 as DC posted a whopping 224-4 against Gujarat Titans
Sanjay Manjrekar
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes Rishabh Pant can do things most Indian wicketkeeper-batters can’t, and that’s why he should be in the T20 World Cup squad.
Pant—88 off 43 balls—was at his magnificent best, hammering eight sixes and five fours at a strike rate of 204.6 as DC posted a whopping 224-4 against Gujarat Titans. “The only reason we are debating that [wicketkeeper’s slot] is because of the options we have. There is a Sanju Samson as an option and KL Rahul is very exciting, but the thing about Rishabh Pant, and that’s why I will back him in the 15 and in the playing XI as well, is that come the big stage like a semi-final of the T20 World Cup, this is a guy who will get you a hundred in 60 balls and win the game,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports Cricket Live.
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“Now that’s something not too many in the Indian team can do. We’ve seen the Indian team come into the final rounds and not quite deliver in the big matches. Rishabh Pant is temperamentally just in a different kind of space where that kind of stage or platform just allows him to flourish more. He just relaxes in that kind of a situation,” he added.
Another former India cricketer, Deep Dasgupta, is confident of Pant’s inclusion in the playing XI: “He [Pant] walks into my playing XI. The only doubt before the IPL started was his fitness level after whatever happened a year-and-a-half ago. What kind of physical state is he in and if he’s fit. Actually, I was having a chat with him. He’s actually lost six kilos in the last four or five months and he’s been working really hard. So yeah, he’s fitter, he’s quicker and batting better.” This was Pant’s highest score of IPL-17 where he has already amassed 342 runs in nine matches, including three half-centuries, at an average of 48.86.
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