The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, Rishabh Pant has recently given an exceptional show of his talent in the West Indies series. However, he still has to run through the scanners of the team selectors’ radars in the upcoming fixtures of India. But nevertheless, the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly believes that the young batsman got a special talent and needs more chances.
Pant has been in and out of the national side for as long as his cricket career goes on. Yet he has not shown consistent performance in either the limited-overs or in the red-ball game. Pant struggles with keeping the bowlers off his track, giving away his wicket over silly shots.
However, in the midst of facing the critics, Pant always had the support from the India skipper Virat Kohli and the head coach, Ravi Shastri.
The former India captain and now BCCI president has come forth to support the youngster as he believes that Pant has a special talent.
Ganguly: ‘His record in Test cricket has been good, but the end decision would be left to the selectors’
In the three-match ODI series against the visiting West Indies, Pant played a stunning knock of 71 runs in the first innings. Although India lost that match, his maiden ODI half-century became the highlight of the day. Meanwhile, in the second innings, Pant scored 39 runs off of 16 balls with three fours and four sixes.
Ganguly referred to this impeccable show of talent by the young keeper-batsman and said that he is a special talent. Meanwhile, he also said that Pant played good but the last decision for the team’s selection will always be given by the selectors.
“These are selection matters which are dealt with by selectors. But Rishabh (Pant) is a special talent and we saw how he played well in the two matches he played against West Indies. His record in Test cricket has been good, but the end decision would be left to the selectors,” Ganguly said on the sidelines of the My XI Circle launch.
However, Pant is included in the playing XI in the ongoing three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Whereas, his performance in the T20 games will ensure his involvement in the upcoming World T20.
Future of Pink-ball game in India:
Ever since his election as the president of BCCI, Ganguly has brought many changes to Indian cricket. Recently, India played the first-ever pink-ball game during the home series against Bangladesh last year. The Men in Blue recorded the historic win as they whitewashed the visitors in the two-match Test series. However, this wouldn’t have been possible if not for Ganguly who supported the day-night match while other officials were against it.
Nevertheless, the game certainly achieved popularity among Indian fans. Speaking on this, the President said that the future matches of the game would depend upon the other cricket boards.
”We will have to discuss this with the other cricket boards as well. But the pink ball Test has definitely gained popularity in India,” Sourav Ganguly said.