Rishabh Pant is yet to play a match on the New Zealand tour and it is sort of confirmed that he will return home without being part of playing XI in 10 matches on the trot. The 22-year-old was surprisingly kept out of playing XI in T20Is and he also could not find a place in ODIs as well. in Tests, Wriddhiman Saha is confirmed to keep wickets, which means no place for Rishabh in the longest format.
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Not only fans, even Delhi Capitals franchise seems to be concerned with his absence form the playing XI. Parth Jindal, the co-owner of Delhi Capitals, questioned Rishabh’s exclusion from playing XI and opined that he could have been given a go at least in fifth T20I or the third ODI of the series.
And why carry @RishabhPant17 only for him to warm the bench? Surely he would have benefited from paying against New Zealand A or domestic cricket? To see a player as talented as him not play the 5th T20 and now the 3rd ODI makes no sense #Xfactor
— Parth Jindal (@ParthJindal11) February 11, 2020
Rishabh was the first choice-wicketkeeper in the shortest format but the team management sprung a surprise by handing gloves to KL Rahul in T20Is well. With series sealed, captain Virat Kohli rested Rohit Sharma for the fourth T20I and himself sat out for the last T20I but there was no place for Rishabh as Sanju Samson played the last two matches.
With series already lost, many expected Team India to give Rishabh an opportunity in the third ODI but this time, visitors only made one change and brought in Manish Pandey for Kedar Jadhav.
As said, Rishabh will not play Tests unless there is a fitness issue with any player. With Rahul doing the wicket-keeping job in white-ball cricket, the team management has now lost interest in Rishabh.
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After World Cup 2019, he was backed to fill MS Dhoni’s shoes. It can be said that he didn’t fulfill the promise but the manner in which he was dropped was surprising – Rishabh missed an ODI due to concussion and has bee out of playing XI since then.
Since many regular players are expected to be rested for South Africa ODIs, there could be a case when Rishabh might get a chance in playing XI during the home series as a specialist batsman.