The Indian team is currently rolling the charts in every format of the game. After defeating Australia in the ODI series at home, the ‘Men in Blue’ are leading the five-match T20I series 4-0 against New Zealand on their soil.
The abundant competition is creating a headache for selectors as there are so many talented batsmen around. However, only a few amongst them are able to find a place in the playing XI, and rest are still warming up the bench.
Delhi-born attacking wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant falls in the same criteria. He is not getting the place in the playing XI, mainly because of KL Rahul’s decision to take up the responsibility of wicket-keeping, which he is handling pretty well.
Former Indian opener Virendra Sehwag, however, questioned the team management for leaving out Pant. During the talk show at Cricbuzz, the veteran cricketer expressed that if Pant is out, then how can he score runs.
“Rishabh Pant has been left out how will he score runs? If you bench Sachin Tendulkar also, even he won’t score runs. If you feel he’s the match-winner, why don’t you play him? Because he’s not consistent?” said Sehwag.
Sehwag shared his playing days’ experience and said, when he was a part of the team, the captain used to talk to the player who’s been made to sit out.
“During our time, the captain used to go and talk with the player (in question). Now I don’t know if Virat Kohli does the same or not. I am not part of the team setup. But people say that when Rohit Sharma went to Asia Cup as captain, he used to talk to all the players,” added Sehwag.
The 41-year-old also took a dig at former Indian captain MS Dhoni who termed him as a slow fielder. Sehwag revealed that MS never consulted him or talked about it in the team meeting. Instead, he (Dhoni) gave statements in the media if Virat Kohli is doing the same with Pant, then its wrong.
“When MS Dhoni said in Australia that the top three are slow fielders, we were never asked or consulted. We got to know from the media. He said at the press conference but not at the team meeting that we are slow fielders. Talk at the team meeting was that we need to play Rohit Sharma, who is new, and that’s why there will be rotation policy. If the same is happening now, that’s wrong,” Sehwag added further.
Pant has played 28 T20Is, and 16 ODI games where he has scored 410 and 374 runs, respectively. The left-handed batsman clubbed 754 runs in 11 Tests with an average of 44.35.
