Anil Kumble hopes to see Rishabh Pant get a longer run in ODI cricket
"He needs to be looked at in this format as well because he’s going to be the future," Kumble noted.
Former Indian cricketer and the former head coach of the Indian team, Anil Kumble, has backed the young turk Rishabh Pant to excel in all the three formats of the game for team India. Pant has been a part of the Indian Test team in the recent times, after Wriddhiman Saha sustained an injury last year. In Saha’s absence, Pant emerged as the preferred keeper-batsman in red ball cricket.
In the limited opportunities that he got, he excelled big time. Rishabh Pant scored a magnificent ton on the English tour, had a couple 90s to his name in the home series against the Windies, and more recently, he scored an unbeaten century in the Sydney Test against Australia. Despite his good run, he was not named in the ODI side as MS Dhoni returned to the mix of things.
Amidst this backdrop, Anil Kumble has vouched for more opportunities for Pant in ODI cricket. MS Dhoni is certainly going to be the preferred keeper in the World Cup squad for India. But the management can certainly let Pant play as a specialist batsman.
“I feel Rishabh Pant is someone you need to test even in the one-day format. I know he played a few matches and he didn’t perform but that’s in the past. He’s done really well in Test match cricket with those hundreds and that’ll give him a lot of confidence,” Anil Kumble said to News18.
‘He is going to be the future’
Taking the future into consideration, and for the long term plans, Kumble asserted that Pant deserves more games. He is happy to see Pant in the T20I side for the New Zealand series as a specialist batsman. Pant did not have a great outing in the first T20I though, and perished for just 4.
“He’s back in the T20I squad and I’m sure he’ll be a different player. So, he needs to be looked at in this format as well because he’s going to be the future. So it’s important that you bring him in at some point in time,” mentioned Kumble.
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