Stand-in India captain in the ongoing South Africa T20I series Rishabh Pant is currently struggling with the bat and he came under the scanner. And now, Pant has been criticised by former cricketers and experts as well. While Dale Steyn feels that Pant is not learning from his mistakes, former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has also opined on his weaknesses in his wicketkeeping skills as well. While speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaneria slammed his fitness and said that he is overweight and his bulky body affecting his keeping.
“I want to talk about Pant’s wicketkeeping. I’ve noticed one thing – he doesn’t squat lower and sit on his toes when a fast bowler is bowling. Seems like he is overweight and being bulky doesn’t give him that much time to come up quickly. It raises concern over his fitness. Is he 100 per cent fit? But when it comes to his captain, bowlers and batters including Hardik and Karthik have supported him well. Pant also has a chance to become the first captain to win a T20 series against South Africa,” Kaneria said about Rishabh Pant.
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However, Kaneria applauded India’s ‘finishers’ Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik. He said that because of Karthik and Pandya, India could reach 169 runs after struggling in the beginning. He also added that it was Karthik’s day and he used his ability very well. Meanwhile, with two consecutive games, India managed to level the series by 2-2 and the final will be played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday (June 19) as well.
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Meanwhile, after the fourth game, Rishabh Pant said: “We talked about execution and playing better cricket and here are the results. Whichever team plays better cricket wins the game. Maybe I will toss with the right hand in the next game and be positive. Really happy with the way Hardik put up a show. DK went for the kill rightaway and that gave us the positivity. As an individual I can look to improve in certain areas. Not too concerned though; looking to take the positives and looking to improve. Let’s see what happens in Bangalore. Looking forward to give our 100%.”
