The young Indian wicket-keeper batsman, Rishabh Pant has been immensely criticized for his consistent failures in recent times batting the match-winning knock in the third T20I against the West Indies. His shot selection has also been scrutinized as the head coach Ravi Shastri also spoke about the same ahead of the T20I series against South Africa. Things went from bad to worse for Pant after he got out to Bjorn Fortuin in Mohali for just four runs.

However, the former India skipper, Sourav Ganguly has come out in support of the youngster as he feels that the people need to be patient with him. Rather he thinks, Pant should be allowed to play his game rather than criticize him after every match. Sourav also feels that the youngster can be the X-factor for India in the near future.

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While speaking to Cricbuzz, Ganguly said, “I think India is strong. India is strong and powerful. I wouldn’t go back to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as the X-factors because they are the X-factor players. Rohit Sharma’s performance in the World Cup was unreal, five World  Cup hundreds. Although India lost in the semi-finals, India played well in the World Cup. I think when you talk about X-factors and you talk about future players, Rishabh Pant will be the one to watch.”

Ganguly pointed out the way social media is creating unnecessary ruckus against Pant every time he gets out and urged the fans to just be patient and see the young southpaw develop into a match-winner.

Sourav elaborated, “I see the country goes up and down every time he gets dismissed. Every time Pant hits a ball in the air, Twitter goes berserk. ‘When will he learn to build an innings’ and all that. But if you want to have a match-winner, you have to set him free. You will have people who will defend, who will prod, who will rotate and India has a lot of them. To bring the explosive thing, the game-changing thing that you need to win matches. I think Pant will be a huge force in Indian cricket.”

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Once again, all the eyes will be on Rishabh Pant on Sunday in the third T20I against the Proteas and the youngster will be keen on breaking the rut.