Mohammad Kaif explains why Rishabh Pant hasn’t savoured success for India

Former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif has reasoned why rookie batsman Rishabh Pant hasn’t been able to get going for the Indian team especially in the white ball format. Kaif reckons that change and chop in Pant’s batting order has led to the debacle of the Delhi batsman.

Kaif feels the team management needs to assign a particular batting position in the side for the southpaw batsman. Pant is an attacking batsman and he should be allowed to play with freedom to get the best out of him, according to Kaif. However, the team has frequently changed his batting position, which has not helped him settle in the white-ball side.

Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Pant also needs to learn how to play according to the match situation and he is expected to learn that by gaining experience.

“Rishabh Pant is a free-flowing player. You have to set his batting position, that he will bat at this position and he will get this many overs to play. He needs to be clear in his head that he will get this many overs so that he is not thinking whether he needs to take singles, or if he needs to defend. He is an attacking batsman, he should start hitting attacking shots from the first ball,” Kaif told Aakash Chopra during a conversation on the latter’s Youtube chat show ‘Aakash Vani’.

Kaif revealed how he, Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting got the best out of the Pant’s pyrotechnics for Delhi Capitals as they wanted him to at least bat 10 overs and give him the license to play according to his strengths, which is hit the ground running from the get-go.

In fact, Pant has an impressive record in the Indian Premier League. The pugnacious batsman has scored 1736 runs in 54 IPL matches at an impressive average of 36.17 and a staggering strike rate of 162.7. However, Pant hasn’t been able to repeat the same kind of numbers while playing for the national team in the white-ball format.

The left-hander has scored 374 runs in 16 ODI matches at an average of 26.71 whereas he has scored 410 runs in 27 T20I matches at an average of 20.7. In fact, Pant hasn’t been able to break into the limited-overs side as KL Rahul has been backed as the first-choice wicket-keeper batsman.

Consequently, Pant will need to produce better numbers to make a case for himself and once again knock at the selection doors of the team. The Delhi batsman has got the talent but he needs to make the most of his chances.