The young wicketkeeper-batsman, Rishabh Pant has been in and out of the Indian national cricket team setup due to lack of consistency in his approach. Having already lost his gloves to KL Rahul in limited-overs cricket, Rishabh Pant is not an automatic first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman in the playing XI now.
During the home assignment against Australia, Rishabh Pant was forced to warm the bench as KL Rahul was preferred ahead of him following a concussion.
During the recently-concluded team’s tour of New Zealand, KL Rahul donned the gloves in the five-match T20I series and three-match ODI series but was snubbed for the two-match Test series.
Rishabh Pant was allowed to play Test series against New Zealand. Indian captain Virat Kohli had earlier revealed the reason behind Pant’s inclusion in the playing XI.
Haddin said that Pant impressed the team management with his hard work in the practice session but after doing all the hard work at the nets, he failed miserably with the bat in the main matches, scoring just 60 runs in this series at a mediocre average of 15.00.
Brad Haddin has a piece of advice for Rishabh Pant
Meanwhile, former Australia wicket-keeper batsman Brad Haddin had chipped in with words of wisdom for the struggling Rishabh Pant. Haddin reckons Pant should bring his own identity into the game and that he should not be under pressure to fill MS Dhoni’s shoes.
“Expectation comes with anyone at this level and that’s one of the things you’ve got to deal with. But the most important thing is to create your own identity of what you want to be seen as. You bring your own style to the team. When I first got my opportunity to play Test cricket, I couldn’t try to be an Adam Gilchrist or Ian Healy. I had to bring my own unique style to the game. One of the challenges here is not trying to be someone you’re not and just be true to yourself,” Haddin was as quoted by Sportstar.
Brad Haddin further added saying that India have been blessed to have a player like MS Dhoni for the past ten years. Haddin stressed on the fact that MS Dhoni left a legacy to the game.
However, for Rishabh Pant, it is up to himself to put his own style to the game and create his own identity to be the ideal wicketkeeper for India.