I'm sure Rishabh Pant will be back in the Indian team soon: Ricky Ponting

From being the poster boy of Indian cricket where he was seen as MS Dhoni’s replacement across all formats of the game to getting sidelined, life has come a full circle for Rishabh Pant in a short space of time. Pant’s career may be just two and a half years old but it has seen arguably more highs and lows than a full-blown career.

Pant was the flavor of Indian cricket just 12 months ago. He had had a whirlwind start to his Test career. He had scored Test hundreds in England and Australia, taken pictures with Tim Paine’s wife; babysit their kids; had a song written specially for him, and the world was going bonkers at the southpaw’s exclusion from the white-ball set-ups.

But, since then a lot of water has flown under the bridge. Pant’s indifferent form with the bat as well as with the gloves coupled by KL Rahul’s purple patch has paved way for the latter to take the keeping gloves from Pant. Rahul is relishing the dual responsibility resulting in Pant being reduced to watch the match from the benches in New Zealand.

And questions around his immediate future in the national side have begun to galore. One of the users asked the same question to Pant’s Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting, who conducted a Q/A session on Twitter on Monday. “You didn’t answer my question last time. Please answer this time. Where do you see Rishabh Pant going from here? He has lost his place in all three formats. Your thoughts?” a fan asked Ricky Ponting.

Ricky Ponting can’t wait to work with Rishabh Pant in the upcoming IPL

Ponting was quick to reply to the fan’s query. According to the former two-time World Cup-winning captain, Pant is just a young man and Punter has no doubt that the southpaw will soon make his return to the national side. 

“Rishabh Pant is a young man with a huge amount of talent. I’m looking forward to working with him again during the IPL and I’m sure he’ll be back in the Indian team sooner rather than later.