“He will get chances” – Aakash Chopra feels Rishabh Pant has “to be harsh on himself” to bounce back strong

“He will get chances” – Aakash Chopra feels Rishabh Pant has “to be harsh on himself” to bounce back strong

Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant

From being hailed as MS Dhoni‘s successor to getting dropped from the limited over series, Rishabh Pant‘s fortune has turned upside down this year. With the emergence of KL Rahul as a dominant force in white ball cricket. And Pant’s struggle to settle into the side has forced him back to square one. The Delhi glovesman’s inconsistency despite getting numerous chances led the selectors to take a harsh call to knock sense into the youngster.

Former India batter Aakash Chopra feels that Pant has no one but himself to blame for the snub. Chopra feels that the young stumper needs to take the opportunities that come his way seriously. And has to understand what went wrong in his short stay at the top level.

“Rishabh Pant needed to understand this whenever he had the opportunity, he had to understand that the way he was getting out and whether he was able to finish the match or not. He has not made full use of the chances that he got and he only has himself to blame at this point in time,” Aakash Chopra told Cricbuzz.

He will have to be harsh on himself

Rishabh Pant

It looks like Pant is set to loose his place in the Test side too with Wriddhiman Saha being prefered for the first warm up game. It has been an untold rule for the Indian side to rotate the Delhi lad for Saha for away games. But given the stark difference in wicket keeping technique of the two, Saha seems to be a sensible choice. Unlike white ball cricket, Pant has had a better outing against the red ball.

Chopra pointed out how Pant’s career has drastically dipped this year. The renowned commentator feels that Pant will have to push himself if he wants to make a comeback. Following a dismal Indian Premier League season, Sanju Samson replaced Pant in the white ball team. And it also might be the reason why the southpaw was benched for the first warm up game.

“Wriddhiman Saha has been keeping for India A in the practice game against Australia A. It means that Rishabh Pant has even lost his spot in Test cricket. At one point in time, he was India’s first-choice wicketkeeper across all three formats. He was also sent to the 2019 World Cup as a replacement,” Aakash Chopra said.

“If things have turned out to be this bad for him, he is still young and will get chances to bounce back. But he will have to be a bit harsh on himself that he did not make the most of his chances,” Chopra added.

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