Sanjay Bangar reveals selection dilemma over Rishabh Pant's future in Team India

Former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar recently came forward and talked about the chances of ace India batter Rishabh Pant making it into India’s playing XI for the upcoming T20I series against England. Bangar pointed out that star batter Sanju Samson has set himself as the best wicketkeeper for India in the shortest format. 

Notably, Team India will be facing England across five T20Is and three ODI matches, and according to Bangar, Pant is not expected to make it in the playing XI for the shortest format clashes against England. Quite interestingly, he highlighted Sanju Samson's sublime run in recent times, which made things tougher for Pant to break into the playing XI.

"Based on the evidence of the last series, because there is one place for a wicketkeeper-batter, and if a wicketkeeper-batter in Sanju Samson has taken the chances with both hands and performed with such magnitude, it's very hard to have two wicketkeeper-batters in the slot," Bangar told Star Sports. 

"If he is slated to bat in the top three, then certainly yes, but at No. 5 or No. 6, even though he was part of the T20 World Cup winning squad and it was his intelligence which led to that breakthrough for the Indian team, that is the level of competition at this moment in T20 cricket that he may just have to miss out," Bangar added.

He will definitely be in my squad, not necessarily in the playing XI: Deep Dasgupta

Deep Dasgupta, who was part of the same discussion, opined that for him personally, Rishabh Pant would make the squad but would not necessarily be a part of the playing XI that will take on England in the series.

Also Read- Rohit Sharma needs to determine whether he still has hunger for Test cricket: Sanjay Bangar

"He will definitely be in my squad, not necessarily in the playing XI, because he is someone I believe his best position in this format is in the top three or four. He has generally been playing at positions four to six, whether it's in the IPL or for India," he said.