Rishabh Pant's wicket on Wednesday changed the course of the game for India
Talented. Flamboyant. Indian cricket's future. Rishabh Pant is everything an international cricketer without one key aspect -- application.
Pant's fearless style of cricket has wooed everyone and he is looked at as the true heir to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's throne but his inability to learn from his mistakes can end up being too costly in the long run.
The 20-year-old Pant is actually everything Dhoni was when he burst on to the scene in 2004. Barring the brown locks that everyone adored, Pant is a fearless dasher and a work in progress keeper much like Dhoni. But, what he is not yet is a sensible cricketer with the bat. And that could be a problem for the youngster.
Dhoni learnt quick and he knew that he needs to adapt to situations to help his team and the power game is always there to fall back on if need be. Pant on the other hand, despite being in the scene for almost two years now, hasn't been able to move on from the tag of a fearless, young cricketer, who relies heavily on his powerful strokeplay.
The southpaw has surely shown his prowess with the bat. The century at The Oval and the match-winning fifty in Chennai showed that he is capable of doing the job with the bat as well. But on both occasions, he grew restless and threw his wicket away in the end, and these are just two innings when he was successful.
Rishabh Pant has come under scrutiny several times for his poor shot selection
Pant has been a regular in the Indian Premier League over the last two seasons and for India A as well. His exploits there is what earned him a place in the national side but there as well, Pant's inability to get his team over the line came under severe scrutiny. The first thing a batsman is taught is 'Don't give your wicket away' but for Pant, when he comes to bat irrespective of all his capabilities, there is a sense of fear that he might throw his wicket away because that has become a norm now.
While it has been talked about before as well, this habit of his had never cost India a game but on Wednesday, it did and the way he got out was not only disappointing but also infuriating if you are sitting at the dugout or across your television set.
The game was slowly turning in India's favour after his and Dinesh Karthik's partnership and the latter was in cruise control as India edged towards the target of 174. But out of the blue, Pant decided to reverse scoop Andrew Tye and all he managed to do was sky one straight to Jason Behrendorff at point.
Yes! Pant is like that. He is cheeky and he tries stuff. His game is predominantly to pick up shots and across the line slashes. Pant is predominantly a power hitter much like MSD and seldom will you see him play through the V. But, a ball bowled outside off can easily be played through the covers especially when you are not in a position to do anything but that. But on Wednesday, Pant decided to carry on with his reverse scoop even though he was playing with fire and in the process, threw his wicket away.
Pant's wicket brought Krunal Pandya in the crease and he failed to hit the ground running, thus, putting more pressure on Karthik, who in the end fell for a 13-bal 30 and India lost by 4 runs.
Pant's wicket was the turning point in the game and that is exactly what cost the visitors the match at the Gabba.
It was a close game, exciting one for the crowd to watch and for the players as well, was a see-saw battle. We started well with the bat, fumbled in the middle overs, in the end we thought we'll win with Pant and Karthik but it changed again with Pant's dismissal," Virat Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly also echoed on the same lines and asked Pant to work on his shot selection.
"Rishabh Pant could've won the match for India with Dinesh Karthik. The way he was batting with Karthik and took the match close for India, the shot didn't have any value," Ganguly said.
"He is a an young player and somebody needs to tell him that when he has the ability and power to hit straight, he doesn't need to play these kind of shots. He is not in bad form. He just has to change his shot selection. It is not a difficult thing to do. I am not concerned with his form," he added.
Dinesh Karthik scored 30 off 13 balls in the first T20I at the Gabba against Australia
Pant, whether one would like it or not, is in tricky waters right now. He has two T20s to cement his place as a wicketkeeper-batsman before Dhoni returns for the ODIs. Pant is not only competing as a keeper but as a batsman in the middle-order and his competition is with many in Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, who also rolls his arm over and of course fellow keeper Karthik, who has done fine at every opportunity provided.
With Dhoni returning in ODIs and Karthik only getting better and Iyer, Pandey and Jadhav waiting in the wings, the two T20Is against Australia will be a major opportunity for the southpaw to impress if he wants to be a part of the Indian team in the near future.
And if he continues to throw his wicket away like he did in the first T20I, he might well end up as a punt India took ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
