I’m not convinced that number five spot is ideal for Rishabh Pant in T20Is: Wasim Jaffer

The poor form in T20Is continues for Rishabh Pant as the southpaw was dismissed following a poor shot in Shadab Khan’s over. At the make it or break it situation, the 24-year-old was dismissed after scoring just 14 from 12 deliveries. 

Following his dismissal, the Indian captain Rohit Sharma was spotted lashing out on him in the dressing room. The fans in the social media were furious with his innings as well. Given the situation, it was a great opportunity for the youngster to capitalise and one again establish himself as a premium T20 batter.

Pant was previously dropped from the team and Dinesh Karthik was given the opportunity to play but the 37-year-old didn't get enough time in the middle. With Ravindra Jadeja’s injury, the plans had to change and Pant was introduced in the middle order as India lacked a left-handed batter in the middle. However, Pant failed to put up a show in the two matches that he played in the Asia Cup.

Former India international Wasim Jaffer believes that Pant should be used as a top order batter in the T20Is as he is not convinced of seeing him at number five. He believes that he can take on the opponent in the powerplay but fails to do so at number five.

“Team India now needs to think whether Rishabh Pant justifies that spot or not! I’m up for seeing Rishabh batting up in the order. I think that’s the ideal place for him to bat in T20Is. He can play aggressive shots right from the start in ODIs and Tests and he’ll only get that opportunity in T20Is when he’s batting in the powerplay. Once he gets the runs in the powerplay, then he’s set to score a lot of runs. However, when he’s batting at number five and the field is quite open up, hitting sixes right from the start isn’t easy. That’s why I’m not convinced that the number five spot is ideal for him in T20Is,” said Wasim Jaffer in BatBricks7 presents Run Ki Runneeti' on CricTracker.

Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Nawaz took the game away from India’s hand

Indian captain Rohit Sharma in the post-match conference said he was happy with 181 on board but unfortunately, that wasn’t enough against Pakistan on Sunday. Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman’s early wicket gave India a lot of hope but soon became a nightmare when Pakistan sent Mohammad Nawaz to bat at number four.

Given the permission to hit the ball right from the start, Nawaz hit 42 off just 20 deliveries and took the game out of India’s grip. The bowlers did pull things back, but Mohammad Rizwan played a mature knock of 71 off 51 deliveries and helped the Men in Green settle the score against India in this year’s Asia Cup. As things stand, team India will have to win their remaining two games to qualify for the finals of Asia Cup.