Rishabh Pant needs to play with more responsibility: Suresh Raina

Former Indian cricket Suresh Raina shared his insights regarding the importance of Rishabh Pant and the upcoming T20I and ODI series against England. Raina stated that Pant has improved his wicketkeeping and batting skills significantly and just needs be more responsible given the length of the ODI format as India prepare for the Champions Trophy 2025.

“He has improved a lot on his wicket-keeping, Rishabh Pant needs to play with more responsibility because this is a 50 over tournament. In the upcoming tournament with England, you’ve got five T20Is and three One Days, this will be a good opportunity for Rishabh Pant,” Raina said on Star Sports Press Room.

“It depends on how you play. I think if Yashasvi does not play in the top order then Rishabh Pant will have a very important role, he can bat at the fourth position he can also come in to bat before Hardik because if Rishabh goes on to play 40-50 deliveries, then he can finish off the game. He has to tell himself that if I play fifty deliveries then I can score 80-100 runs but it is important for him to spend some time. If he makes a mistake then that’s going to cost a lot because he has that talent, he has got that ability, he is going to be the X factor for the Indian team,” he added.

When asked about the importance of the upcoming series against England and prediction regarding semifinalists of the Champions Trophy, Raina said: “This practice [England series] is really important for the players like Mohammed Shami and Washington Sundar because they’ve not played One Days for a very long time.

“So, the selectors and Rohit Sharma will have their eyes on them. And as far as the semi-finalists are concerned, I think India and New Zealand will make it and Afghanistan can also make it as they have played a lot of matches, they also have mystery spinners in their team. So, I won’t write-off Afghanistan because ‘Afghan Jalebi’ is going to come to Dubai because they have an idea of playing the short formats and their quite united too and I think South Africa have done really well as a team!”