Former South African pace bowler Dale Steyn has slammed Rishabh Pant for his poor performances against the South African team in the ongoing T20I series, saying that he seems to be repeating the same mistakes. Dale Steyn also applauded Dinesh Karthik and said that the 37-year-old could be one of the first choices in India’s T20 World Cup squad as well.
However, Pant has faced a tough time with the bat in the recent series as he has failed to make an impact with the bat. On the other hand, Karthik has carried his form from the IPL and was the Man Of The Match in the fourth T20I on Friday also. While talking about both players on ESPNCricinfo’s Time Out, Dale Steyn said that Pant hasn’t learned from his mistakes, while Karthik has shown his class as well.
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“Pant has had four opportunities in this series, where he seems to be making the same mistakes. Also, you think that good players learn from their mistakes, he has not. DK has just come out every single time and shown what a class player he is. If you want to win the World Cup, you want to pick a guy who is in form. There are guys who team will pick on reputation, but DK is in such fantastic form, if he continues this form, he is going to be one of the first names written down on the plane when India tours for the World Cup later this year,” said Dale Steyn.
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“DK has been in phenomenal form. This year, he is getting better and better. He has the wicketkeeper mentality, he reads the game really well, he knows and understands what bowlers are trying to do and he backs it up with very good skill. He reverse sweeps, sweeps, laps. They are shots being played by somebody who reads and understands the game, understands what the bowler is going to bowl when before he runs up to bowl. He does it so well, he attacks the first and last ball of the over, he puts the bowlers under pressure on ball one, and then the guys, they don’t really have an answer,” Dale Steyn concluded.
