The former Test cricketer advised the Indian team management to consider opening the innings with Pant.
Finding it difficult to extract the best out of him at this point, India should consider opening with Rishabh Pant in T20Is, believes former Test cricketer Wasim Jaffer.
Jaffer came up with an interesting suggestion, calling on the Indian team management to ask their explosive middle-order batter to move up the order.
The suggestion has come on the back of Pant enduring a poor run during the home T20I series versus South Africa last month, collecting only 58 runs from his five innings against the Proteas on good batting surfaces.
While he seems to have found a key to maintaining a nice balance between explosiveness and consistency in Tests, Rishabh Pant has failed to do so in the shortest format for India. The batter has an average of 23.15 with a strike-rate of 123.91 over 48 matches.
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday (July 6), Jaffer advised the decision-makers, including chief selector Chetan Sharma, head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma, to seriously ponder the move to open with Rishabh Pant ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.
Jaffer didn’t divulge on why he believes Pant can be a success as an opening batter in T20Is but said the left-hander is likely to “blossom” if given a chance to set the tone for the Indian innings.
“Indian think tank should think about opening with Rishabh Pant in T20Is. I think that’s the spot where he can blossom,” tweeted the former Test cricketer.
Indian think tank should think about opening with Rishabh Pant in T20Is. I think that’s the spot where he can blossom. #ENGvIND
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) July 6, 2022
The idea of promoting Rishabh Pant at the top has been floating on social media for quite some time and an immediate follow-up query tends to be: who will make way for Pant at the top, with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul playing incumbents and the likes of Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Prithvi Shaw, too, waiting in the wings.
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The thought seems borne out of a belief that Pant would relish batting against the new ball inside the powerplay overs, which may help him avoid the catching men for his high-risk approach at the crease.
