Rishabh Pant is leading Team India in the ongoing T20I series against South Africa.© BCCI
Rishabh Pant was given the responsibility of leading Team India after KL Rahul suffered an injury on the eve the opening T20I of the five-match series against South Africa. He didn’t have the best of starts as India lost the first two matches of the series. But under the stewardship of Pant, the hosts fought back brilliantly to level the series at 2-2 with the deciding T20I to be played later today. While Pant has received praise from many quarters for his captaincy, his batting performance has been put under the scanner after a string of low scores.
The likes of Wasim Jaffer and Dale Steyn have even said that going by current form, Pant could find himself out of the playing XI in T20Is.
Now, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has raised concerns over the Indian wicketkeeper’s fitness, calling him “slightly overweight and bulky”.
“I want to talk about Rishabh Pant’s keeping. I have noticed one thing that when a fast bowler is bowling, he doesn’t crouch and sit down. He keeps standing. Maybe because he is slightly overweight and bulky, he can’t come up that quickly, and he doesn’t have that much of time. He just stays bent back and low, he doesn’t sit down properly. I think that shows a little concern over his fitness. Is Rishabh Pant fully fit?” Kaneria said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
“Rishabh Pant will have to improve his batting style. There is KS Bharat available and I don’t see any wrong in bringing in Wriddhiman Saha. Just give a break to Rishabh Pant,” added the former Pakistan cricketer.
In the ongoing T20I series against South Africa, Pant has struggled big time with the bat. He has scored just 57 runs in four matches at an average of 14.25.
With Dinesh Karthik, who is playing as a pure batter, making big contributions with the bat, Pant is under immense pressure to perform.
