Rishabh Pant, the first-choice wicketkeeper of India in MS Dhoni’s absence, has been going through rough patches. However his natural game is not working for him at the No.4 position, says former India player VVS Laxman, who feels Pant can comes to bat in lower down the order.

“The nature of Rishabh Pant’s batting is that he plays aggressive shots…unfortunately at the international level he is not able to succeed at the number four position,” Laxman said on ‘Star Sports’. “Pant should bat at number 5 and 6, where you have the license to go out and express yourself and at the moment he doesn’t know the right method of scoring runs at number 4,” he added further.

Laxman said Rishabh Pant shouldn’t be put under too much pressure as this phase is common for every player.

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“Every player goes through this phase, his natural game is free flowing but suddenly he is not gaining the same results (which he did with Delhi franchise in the IPL),” Laxman said. “He is trying to evolve and trying to add different dimensions to his game by rotating the strike that we saw in the previous match but unfortunately, his shot selection at the start of the innings has not been great.”

Laxman further said that Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya might be better options for the No.4 slot as of now.

“There are other people to bat at number 4 like Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer who are experienced and could play at that spot,” he again shared.

“He also has a lot of pressure as he is taking the place of MS Dhoni who has done a lot for Indian cricket, to get his confidence back the team management needs to let him go bat at number 5 or 6 and express himself,” VVS Laxman further concluded.