Former India cricketer Reetinder Singh Sodhi has recently slammed Rishabh Pant after the young wicket-keeper batsman has been tested Covid-19 positive. He was recently seen having a gala time at the Euro 2020 alongside his friends, which didn’t go down well with the veteran as Pant was seen without a mask amid the crunch time of COVID.
With Pant and Wriddhiman Saha (both wicket-keeper) is currently in isolation, KL Rahul might be seen with the gloves in the upcoming Tests against England.
“It is an atmosphere of tension. There has been talk going on for such a long time that you should avoid crowded places and if it is necessary wear masks. If you are going without masks where there are so many spectators, then you are yourselves inviting danger,” he said on India News.
READ HERE: Kasi Viswanathan Reveals The Future Of MS Dhoni With CSK
He continued: “This is very very sad and the board has expressed their anger and it is absolutely correct as well because the players will have to understand their responsibility themselves. Now the prayer is that everything remains fine. We were thinking about the XI that will be played, which players are in good rhythm, but now both wicket-keepers are not present. The hope is that KL Rahul does not have to keep wickets.”
“This is very tragic because you want to take advantage of the two practice matches before the series. You want to score runs and get acclimatized but now the fear will be that no one else should get infected. The players’ mindset will be on the back foot, which is very unfortunate,” he concluded.
Notably, India have been in England for quite some time now as they had played the final of the inaugural World Test Championship recently against New Zealand and they eventually lost as well. Now, they will play a five-match Test series against the hosts as well.
ALSO READ: Kapil Dev Questions The Changing Mindset Of Players
On the other hand, former India captain, as well as the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, defended Rishabh Pant, citing that a player can’t wear masks 24×7. Here’s what he said in an exclusive chat with News 18. “We have seen Euro Championship and Wimbledon in England. Rules have changed (with crowd being allowed inside venues). They were on leave and it’s physically impossible to wear mask all the time.”
