‘His strike-rate is highest when he opens’ – Dinesh Karthik backs Rishabh Pant to open in T20Is
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Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant
Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik believes wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant should open the innings for India in T20Is as his strike-rate is highest when he opens. He also pointed out that the left-handed batter likes to play attacking cricket and put bowlers under pressure.
“We know one thing for sure, Rishabh Pant’s ability to play shots. And when the field is up, he can go gung-ho in the powerplay so we can give him the opportunity to open. Interestingly, stats also reflect that his strike rate is highest when he opens. He likes the field up, he likes to take on bowlers and put them under pressure,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
“I think it will be very interesting to see where they bat Rishabh Pant. Big question for Team India is how they will be using Rishabh Pant and I think we will be seeing him at the top of the order and trying to give him enough balls to showcase his skills. He is second to none when it comes to stroke play and has baffled a lot of international bowlers of high pedigree. We need to embrace the fact that there will be a few failures from him, but when he gets going, he is a terrific player to watch,” he said.
Rishabh Pant cemented his ODI and Test spot, feels Dinesh Karthik
The 37-year-old firmly believes that Rishabh Pant has cemented his spot in the ODI and Test team. However, Karthik mentioned that the youngster bats at different positions for his IPL franchise and the national team. Evidently, the Men in Blue are still trying to fit him into the XI.
“I think Rishabh Pant has sealed his spot in Test cricket and to a large extent in ODI cricket as well. In T20s, he bats in a different position for his franchise and comes in a different spot in the Indian team and they are trying to figure out where to fit him,” he added.
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While Pant is definitely in the scheme of things for all formats, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that we might have seen the very end of Karthik in the blue jersey. The management would be keen to provide chances to youngsters and build a solid base for the upcoming assignments in the future.
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Wansh Agarwal
(140 Articles Published)