Former Pakistan cricket star Danish Kaneria has torn into India wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant, declaring his numbers in white-ball cricket were not impressive. Danish Kaneria went as far as to say that Rishabh Pant doesn't deserve a place in India's ODI and T20I sides and should be immediately sacked from the Rohit Sharma-led team. In his spot, Danish Kaneria advocated for providing Sanju Samson more opportunities because like Rishabh Pant he was also an established wicketkeeper and had a wonderful record with the bat in limited-overs cricket.
Notably, in ODIs, Rishabh Pant has managed to score 865 runs from 30 matches, with five half-centuries and a hundred. Sanju Samson, on the other hand, has played far fewer games than the Uttarakhand dasher – 11 to be exact in which he has accumulated 330 runs, but his average is extremely high compared to Rishabh Pant: a stunning 66 while Pant averages 34.60.
“India should accept the fact that Rishabh Pant is not a white-ball cricketer. They have tried him at every position in the order, just so that he can score runs. But what about Sanju Samson? Did he do anything wrong by scoring 36 runs?,” Danish Kaneria said on his Youtube channel.
“From fans to former players, everyone has expressed displeasure over this. All this is very demoralizing for Sanju Samson, as he is being treated like an average cricketer,” Danish Kaneria added.
Danish Kaneria, however, isn't the first cricket pundit to cast doubts about Rishabh Pant's white-ball game.
Many former cricketers, including Simon Doull, Aakash Chopra, Salman Butt, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, etc have slammed his figures in limited-overs cricket.
“Rishabh Pant's record is a decent sample size. He has played just under 30 games and only averages 35, the strike rate is good. But Sanju in 11 games is averaging 60 something. And I don't think he is any less of a wicketkeeper. I just think he deserves an opportunity as well,” Simon Doull said on Cricbuzz.
“The Rishabh Pant vs Sanju Samson debate is an interesting one for me. There is so much talk about Rishabh Pant, and how he is the future. But in white-ball formats, he hasn't quite done it. Unbelievable Test player, and he is a shoe-in in Tests as the wicketkeeper-batter, no issue with that? But is he the best white-ball keeper batter? I am not convinced,” Simon Doull pointed out.
Rishabh Pant scored a disappointing 10, 6, 11, and 15 runs in his four knocks during the recently concluded New Zealand tour. His poor display with the bat was heavily criticized by former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt.
“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 in a video 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.
Despite Rishabh Pant's struggles on the turf, India skipper Shikhar Dhawan defended him.
“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.
Even Rishabh Pant backed himself.
“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,” the wicketkeeper batter concluded.
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