"He needs to focus more on his batting than his batting position"- Ex-Indian pacer on Rishabh Pant's batting struggles

 
"He needs to focus more on his batting than his batting position"- Ex-Indian pacer on Rishabh Pant's batting struggles

India will lock horns against South Africa in the fourth T20I match at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot today at 7 pm. The visiting team is trailing the series by 2-1 at the moment. So this will be a must-win game for the Indians. However, the home team bounced back really well in the last game after losing the first two matches.

The Indian bowlers did a commendable job, but the worry was the Indian middle-order that failed twice consecutively. More importantly, the form of the stand-in captain, Rishabh Pant, has also become the talking point now. 

The skipper has only managed 40 runs in three matches at an average of 13.33 and a strike rate of 129.3. His form is certainly affecting the Indian team's performance. In the absence of senior players, he is batting at the No. 4 spot in the series, but his numbers are poor as per his own standards.

Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra reckons that Pant needs to focus more on his batting than his batting spot in the series. In a discussion on Cricbuzz, the former pacer said that, speaking of the IPL, the DC head coach Ricky Ponting also opened up that Pant was not happy with his batting position in the tournament.

Nehra added that the wicket-keeper batsman has been playing in the IPL for five years now, so he is an experienced player in T20 cricket. He stated that Pant is playing at No. 4, so there will be pressure on him because there are other players such as Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli as well in the team. 

Nehra concluded, "I would want Rishabh Pant to focus more on his batting than his batting position. It (the batting position) doesn’t make a big difference. How he captains, how much better can he perform.. he needs only one innings to get his mindset changed."

Speaking further, the former pacer added that there is no need for the 24-year-old to take pressure on him and senior players like Hardik Pandya and head coach Rahul Dravid should help him about this.

 

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