It has not been an ideal time for India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. Till now, the flamboyant batter has not been able to do much in the ongoing three-match Test series against South Africa. In the first two Tests, Pant managed to score just 8, 34, 17 respectively.
In the second innings of the second Test a lot was expected from him when he came down to bat. In order to set a big target for the South Africa team, Hanuma Vihari needed someone at the other end who could stay there out for a long time and score for the team but the 24-year-old wicketkeeper simply had some other plans.
While facing just third delivery of his innings, he decided come down the pitch and hit a shot over the extra cover region but he made complete a mess of it eventually as his mistimed shot provided an edge that went straight to Kyle Verreynne. Pant went back to the pavilion scoring a duck. Eventually the visitors went down to lose the Test match by 7 wickets.
Poor shot selection
Since then, the Roorkee-born wicketkeeper had to face a lot of criticism for his poor shot selection and wrong mindset and now India team head coach Rahul Dravid has dropped a hint that he will have a conversation with Pant regarding all these issues.
Dravid said that the team management will have a level of conversations with him.
“We know Rishabh is a positive player and he plays in a particular manner which has gotten him success. But yeah, of course, there are times, we will have a level of conversations with him around, it is just about the timing of that shot you know. No one is going to tell Rishabh not to be a positive or aggressive player. Sometimes it is about choosing the timing to do that,” Dravid said while talking to the media at the virtual post-match conference.
Give more time
Dravid, who has played 164 Test matches for the Indian team feels that Pant is someone who can change the course of the game, so he cannot be asked to become something very different.
“When you have just come in, giving yourself some more time would be more advisable. We know what we are getting with Rishabh, he is a very positive player, he is someone who can change the course of the game for us, so we won’t take that away from him and ask him to become something very different. It is about figuring out when is the right time to attack. He is learning, he plays in a particular way but he will keep learning,” Dravid explained.
