Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has blasted India captain Shikhar Dhawan for promoting Rishabh Pant at the expense of Suryakumar Yadav during the recent tour of New Zealand.
According to Salman Butt, Rishabh Pant should have batted in the lower middle order, much below Suryakumar Yadav in both the T20Is and ODIs, but Shikhar Dhawan opted to play him as an opener in the shortest format of the game.
Notably, Rishabh Pant is the only India wicketkeeper batter to score hundreds in South Africa, England, and Australia in the longest format of the game but his numbers in limited-overs cricket have been criticized.
In the T20I and ODI series against New Zealand that concluded on Wednesday, the left-hand attacking batter failed to get going, ending the tour with only 42 runs in four innings across the two formats.
Rishabh Pant scored a disappointing 10, 6, 11, and 15 runs in his four knocks in New Zealand.
“He's (Pant) a flashy player, plays with a lot of freedom but he hasn't been able to deliver the kind of performance that was expected of him in the current (New Zealand) series. He should have scored more runs. But I didn't understand why he was batting above Suryakumar Yadav. You are playing an out-of-form batter in place of someone who is in the form of his life and is playing his best cricket. The in-form player should play more overs. He's the No.1 batter and you are sending him below an out-of-form player,” Salman Butt said about Shikhar Dhawan's decision on his YouTube channel.
“I don't know what's going on. This can impact an in-form player. I don't know whether this was the case here or not but a batter who is in the form of his life would want to play more deliveries,” he added.
“I would choose to open in T20Is, number 4-5 in ODIs and in Test I'm batting at 5. Yes, the game plan changes when you're batting lower down the order but at the same time you have to bat where the team wants you to. There's no need to premeditate in ODIs, only in T20s you need to premeditate,” Salman Butt elaborated.
Despite Rishabh Pant's lean patch with the bat, India skipper Shikhar Dhawan and coach VVS Laxman were keen on sticking with the southpaw for a few more matches as they consider him a match-winner.
“It's not that tough. Like in Rishabh's case, he played the one-dayers in England and scored a century there. And a player who gets a 100 gets backing. Everything is done keeping the larger picture in mind. If there is a match-winner, you have to back him. A decision is taken after analysing a lot of things,” Shikhar Dhawan explained his decision during the post-match press conference after the third game of the ODI series was called off due to inclement weather with the Kiwis winning the series 1-0.
“Of course, Sanju is doing really well. Whatever opportunities he has gotten, he has done well but sometimes despite performing well, a player has to wait because the one before him has been doing well. The skill he (Pant) has, we know that he is a match-winner. Certain cushioning needs to be given that cushioning when he isn't performing. So that cushioning is given to that player,” Shikhar Dhawan signed off.
“It's about giving them opportunities and also informing them whenever they aren't picked. Pant has been doing well at no.4, not too long ago he scored an important century at Old Trafford and it's important to back him. T20 cricket has given batters more confidence about clearing the grounds no matter how big the outfields are, they also work a lot with the range-hitting,” VVS Laxman said in an interaction with Prime Video.
Even Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma hit out at Rishabh Pant for his lackluster showing with the bat.
“Rishabh Pant's on-field performances have not been satisfactory at all. It is very unfortunate, as he has been given a long rope by the team management. We all know how Virat Kohli showed great faith in Pant during his captaincy. And even after that, he kept on getting many chances. While he has done quite well in red-ball cricket, he has failed to deliver in white-ball cricket,” Rajkumar Sharma said during a discussion on India News.
“There is no harm in going back and playing domestic cricket when you are not in form. It is always better to work on your basics if you can see that you are struggling in terms of stroke-making. He should play domestic cricket and then make a comeback to the national side,” Rajkumar Sharma summed up.
Follow Us
Subscribe