Why Rishabh Pant deserves to get longer rope in ODI cricket?
Rishabh Pant is one of the greatest ever Indian Test wicketkeeper but in ODIs and T20IS he is still finding his place in team despite having a great performance in Test cricket. In T20I he has scored 1209 runs in 66 innings of T20I where he averaging only 23 while Strike rate is 127.40 but in ODIs he is a gamechanger player in middle overs where he plays very dangerous style of cricket but he is not getting chances in ODI cricket despite scoring runs very quickly, he has played only 1 match in ODI cricket since returning to cricket after a life-threatening accident. Rishabh Pant is a player who can change the match result in only few overs and he did this thing even in the short ODI career where he played only 27 innings (31 matches) but even in those 27 innings he changed the match many times whether it was against England in 2021 ODI series which was played in India or Whether England series 2022 which was played in England where he played a match winning knock against England when India was struggling in the 3rd ODI match and then Pant scored a brilliant century and won the match for India but in December 2022 when Rishabh Pant was returning to home he met with a very dangerous accident which was a life threatening accident but Pant recovers in 2024 and made his comeback in international cricket but his position in ODI was already captured by KL Rahul who was one of the best wicketkeeper batter in ODI cricket but when he got selected in playing XI against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka he failed to score runs and after then Indian team has played more than 12 ODIs but Rishabh Pant has not played any matches in those 12 matches. In his last 17 ODI innings Rishabh Pant has scored 642 runs with a help of 5 fifties and 1 century while he was averaging 40.12 and his strike rate was 110 in during this phase which is the highest strike rate by any Indian Wicketkeeper batter in ODI cricket during this phase but he is still struggling to get enough chances in playing XI. In the recently concluded ODI series he was in the team but team management haven't given a single odi match to Rishabh Pant, while every team is busy in preparation of ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2027 for that they are finding and experimenting with players but Indian team looks not serious for that tournament that's why they are unable to decide who will be the 2nd wicketkeeper batter for that event which will be played in South Africa . KL Rahul is not getting younger now and his strike rate is also a big concern for India in middle overs because his strike rate is only 90 in last 4 years which will be a problem for India because now cricket has been changed now teams targeting 400 runs in a 50-over match so it's a great time for Indian management to give some matches to Pant where he can show his performance in ODI cricket, even if he fails in 3-4 matches no need of dropping him because the type of game he plays it very courageous for any player to play that brand of cricket so team management needs to keep trust in him. If he gets enough chances to play ODI matches he will crack this format and he will finish his career as one of the greatest wicketkeeper in ODI format also whenever he retires, he is already a great wicketkeeper batter in Test cricket. If Indian team wants to win the next ODI World Cup then Pant should be the first choice wicketkeeper batter because no one knows what will be the fitness of Rahul in 2027 whether he can keep wickets in the 2027 World Cup or not because in South Africa ball comes with very fast and one dropped catch or a missed stumping can change the match.
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