Talented Rishabh Pant cannot blame anybody: Kapil Dev on youngster being benched

Former India skipper Kapil Dev has said that it is up to the ‘talented’ Rishabh Pant to prove his detractors wrong. The youngster has not really lived up to the expectations so far and now faces an upheaval task in winning back his place in the playing eleven of the teams across formats. At the start of the home season last year, he lost his place in the Test team as the team-management preferred Wriddhiman Saha.

With Saha doing extremely well behind the wickets, India are unlikely to include Pant in the playing eleven any time soon. Pant had the opportunity to prove himself in ODIs and T20Is as he was the number one choice for the wicketkeeper’s role after MS Dhoni took a break from the game. However, the left-handed batsman failed miserably with wicketkeeping gloves as well as bat.

Things then turned from bad to worse for him earlier this month as he suffered a concussion against Australia and KL Rahul impressed behind the stumps. With Rahul doing well with the bat too, India have now handed the wicketkeeping duties to the Karnataka batsman. In the first T20I against New Zealand, Rahul kept the wickets and scored another impressive fifty while Pant was left to rue the missed chances as he warmed the bench.

Pant has to prove everybody wrong: Kapil Dev

With Pant facing criticism from all around in recent times, Kapil Dev has thrown his support behind the young player. Calling him ‘so talented’, the legendary cricketer advised the youngster to take the onus and resurrect his career.

“Pant is so talented. He cannot blame anybody. He has to look after his own career. The only way for him is to keep on getting runs and prove everybody wrong. When you are talented, it is your job to prove people wrong,” Kapil Dev was quoted as saying by First Post.

“The players have to look after themselves. They should never give the option to the selectors to drop them or give them a rest,” said Kapil Dev while responding to a question on the wicketkeeper being benched before adding that the decision to give Rahul the ‘keeper’s job is the team management’s call.

“It is the team management’s call. I don’t know about these things. It is not my decision. The team has to decide who opens, who bats at No 3 etc,” he said.