The young wicket-keeper, Rishabh Pant deserves to be in India’s World Cup 2019 squad and it can be said after watching some of his recent performances. Former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra is thinking on the same lines. He has listed reasons why Rishabh Pant deserves a slot in the playing XI during the mega-event.
As quoted in PTI, Nehra said, “In a team, there will always be contributors but at a big event like the World Cup, you need players with X-factor. Rishabh Pant is not a mere contributor but a pure match-winner who should be picked for the World Cup. If you look at India’s batting line up, save Shikhar (Dhawan), there aren’t any left-handers in the top seven. You need variety with a left-right combination, where Rishabh perfectly fits.”
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The 21-year-old Pant is a left-hander and scored Test centuries in his first series in England and Australia.
Talking about the same, the former pacer said, “Secondly, Rishabh can bat at any position between Nos 1 to 7 and so Virat (Kohli) and the team management can use him as a floater. If it comes to effortlessly hitting sixes, Rishabh comes second only to Rohit Sharma with his big-hitting ability. India will need that in abundance during the World Cup.”
Nehra also explained that he according to him Pant has the ability to win matches singlehandedly.
The veteran pacer elaborated, “No disrespect, this team has three clear match-winners and they are Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah. For me, the fourth one is going to be Rishabh Pant. Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik are all fantastic players but they are all in the same mold. You need X-factor which this boy possesses. As I have already said, Rishabh could also be your third opener, so DK (as Karthik is referred to) could be your middle order batter.”
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When asked about if it is wise to have three keepers in the 15, the veteran replied that looking at Pant and Karthik as second and third keepers is wrong.
Nehra elaborated, “I don’t look at it from that perspective. If Rishabh and DK are being picked ahead of specialist batsmen like Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer, then you are looking at them as specialist batsmen. So why complicate the thought process. As it is we have the peerless MS Dhoni behind stumps so treat both as specialist batsmen.”
