Former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar has all the praises for the young Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant. He has now termed the youngster as the Virender Sehwag of the present generation and he feels that similar to Sehwag. Pant needs to be handled in a different manner and ought to be allowed to play cricket the way he wants.
Talking to Twitter, Manjrekar wrote: “Penny dropped for me last night. Rishabh is this generation’s Viru. Batsman who needs to be treated differently… which is to just let him be. You either pick him or drop him but never try and change him”.
Penny dropped for me last night. Rishabh is this generation’s Viru. Batsman who needs to be treated differently…which is to just let him be. You either pick him or drop him but never try & change him.#RishabhPant
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) May 9, 2019
Pant had once again proved his worth with his mind-boggling batting performance under the pressure which helped the Delhi Capitals (DC) to a thrilling win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Eliminator. Pant played a match-winning knock of 49 off 21 balls as Delhi chased down 163 with two wickets in hand and a ball to spare.
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Earlier, last month, Rishabh was excluded from the 15-member squad that will represent India at the 2019 ICC World Cup at England and Wales. In his place, Dinesh Karthik has been preferred as the second wicket-keeper for the mega event for his superior “wicket-keeping skills”.
While announcing the squad, the Indian chief selector, MSK Prasad had said, “We all (agreed) that either Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik will come in only when (Dhoni) is injured. In an important game, wicket-keeping is also important. That’s the reason we went with Dinesh Karthik. That is the only reason why we went ahead with DK otherwise Pant was almost there. Pant is full of talent, he has time on his hands. Unfortunately, he missed out.”
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Many former cricketers, including the veterans like Michael Vaughan, have stressed that this move of the Indian selectors can’t be justified, saying they should reconsider their decision and include the young southpaw in the squad for the World Cup that begins from the end of this month.
