Should Team India drop Rishabh Pant from ODIs and T20Is?
There was a lot of discussion before the India vs New Zealand first One Day International (ODI) on whether wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant should be in the playing XI or should Sanju Samson get chance. Captain Shikhar Dhawan and coach VVS Laxman decided to play both Pant and Samson and dropped Deepak Hooda from the team.
The gamble didn't pay off as not only did Rishabh Pant failed to make a mark with the bat scoring just 15 off 23 balls, Indian team also lost the match to New Zealand by seven wickets.
From the Indian team, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill scored half-centuries. Pant once again missed the chance of score runs. Even before the match, there had been a lot of criticism around Rishabh Pant regarding his form.
The last 10 innings of Rishabh Pant: Pant's has been going through a lean patch since the Asia Cup earlier this year.
- If we look at his figures in the last 10 T20I innings, he has played, Pant has scored only 90 runs in seven out of 10 matches he got to bat. His batting average was mere 9.
- In the last 10 ODI innings, Pant has managed to score 326 runs at an average of 32.6. Only in an ODI against England, did Pant manage a century scoring 125 off 113 balls.
- In the T20 World Cup, in the matches where he was given the chance in place of Dinesh Karthik, Pant failed. The wicket-keeper batsman scored mere 6 runs off 4 balls in the crucial semi-finals against England at Adelaide Oval.
In the last 10 T20I innings, Rishabh Pant has managed only 90 runs. Photo: Getty Fans furious on Pant: Since the selectors have kept Pant in the team despite his below par performances, the fans have been furious about it. On Friday, many fans on Twitter were angry about Pant's inclusion in the team.
The fans have been angry over the team not replacing Pant despite his poor performances.
Should Pant be replaced with Samson? If we compare the stats of the two, in T20 cricket, Samson has a better strike rate and average than Pant.
- Samson has only played 5 T20I matches for India in 2022 while Pant has played 20. In his 5 matches, Samson has scored 179 runs at an average of 44.75, while Pant's average is 22.06.
- His batting strike-rate of 158.41 is better than Samson's 131.22.
- Former cricketer Aakash Chopra also spoke about Rishabh Pant after the team's loss against New Zealand. He said that the Dhawan can hand over the keeping gloves to Samson, drop Pant and bring Deepak Hooda in the team as that gives them the option of a sixth bowler in the team.