Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina feels that Rishabh Pant will make a comeback into the playing XI one or two games into the tournament.
Suresh Raina Backs Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant who once was an irreplaceable wicket-keeper in limited-over matches has now lost his position to senior batter Dinesh Karthik. Right after DK’s performance in recently concluded IPL, India’s
“He’s an important player. He has done it (made runs previously) in Australia. He’s scored hundreds there and won the Gabba Test for us. He’s an x-factor because if you see from 1-6, there’s no leftie batter,” Raina said in a chat with Zee News.
“So, how they are going to use him, it’s very important. He’s a very good player and knows how to bat in pressure situations. Hopefully, the management must be thinking about how to bring him in. So, in one or two games, you could see him playing again,” the 2011 World Cup winner added.
Pant and Karthik can both also get into the playing XI but such a line-up might devoid the Indian team of playing a genuine all-rounder.
On further being asked about Pant’s batting, Raina said that the wicket-keeper batter can be an X-factor as a left-hander in the team. But, it’s about how Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma plan to use him.
“It depends on where his spot is coming from. It’s all upon Rahul bhai and Rohit, how they want to use him in the eleven. You just need to have a leftie batsman as an x-factor. I hope they will do it,” he said.
India will play their first match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 against Pakistan on October 23 in Melbourne.
India Squad for T20 World Cup 2022
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami.
Standby Players: Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur
