Discarded Pakistan batter feels India will miss Rishabh Pant in IND vs PAK CT 2025 match

Discarded Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad feels that India will miss the services of the wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant in the Champions Trophy 2025 match against Pakistan. Shehzad believes that Pant's ability to hit the ball at unusual corners will be missed by India.

Rishabh Pant is in India's squad for the Champions Trophy 2025. However, the team management has decided to go with KL Rahul as the first-choice wicketkeeper in the team ahead of Pant.

Rahul has been preferred with the gloves for a long time in ODIs. He took the gloves after Pant was out of the team due to a life-threatening accident in December 2022. Since then, he has made the spot his own through impressive performances with bat and gloves.

Also read: Mohammed Shami surpasses Jasprit Bumrah to become India's worst bowler in CT history

Ahmed Shehzad feels India will miss Rishabh Pant

During a conversation on Sports Tak, Ahmed Shehzad shed light on Rishabh Pant's absence from Team India's Playing XI against Pakistan. Shehzad believes that Pant's absence is good for Pakistan as he has the ability to play horizontal shots at unusual spots across the ground.

"It's good for Pakistan that Rishabh Pant is not playing. KL Rahul is playing. KL Rahul is more of a conventional player who is an excellent player with the new ball on good pitches," Shehzad noted.

"But the way he plays with a high elbow at No. 6... in Dubai, you need to play with force which Rishabh Pant has. He can hit shots at such corners where placing a fielder is difficult. India have to look in some of these aspects," he added.

It's good for Pakistan that Rishabh Pant is not playing. He can hit horizontal ahots especially in the areas where it's hard to place a fielder. [ Ahmed Shehzad ] pic.twitter.com/KMrrZEv3Fi

— Riseup Pant (@riseup_pant17) February 23, 2025

Rahul scored a valiant 41 off 47 balls in India's first match of the tournament against Bangladesh. He remained unbeaten till the end to see his team home in a tense chase.

KL Rahul's ODI numbers

KL Rahul has been India's preferred wicketkeeper in ODIs and has an excellent record in the format. He has scored 2944 runs in 81 ODIs at an average of 48.26 and a strike rate of 87.74 with 7 hundreds and 18 fifties.

He started his ODI career as an opener but shifted to the middle order after finding that the top order was already packed with world-class players. Since then, he has performed well in the middle order by scoring runs at crucial stages.

Rahul has the ability to play both pace and spin equally well. He is one of those players who can play the sweep shots and disrupt the bowler's rhythm in the middle overs. He can also emerge to be a dangerous player in the death overs with his wide range of shots.

Rishabh Pant's inconsistent ODI numbers

While Rahul has a good ODI record, Rishabh Pant hasn't had a perfect start to his ODI career. He has scored 871 runs in 31 ODIs so far at an average of 33.50 and a strike rate of 106.21 with 1 hundred and 5 fifties so far.

Pant provides the left-handed option in the middle order and has the ability to play shots at unusual corners of the ground. However, he hasn't been consistent in his ODI career so far which made the team management go for Rahul as the preferred wicketkeeper.

While Pant is not India's preferred wicketkeeper in ODIs, he has been a revelation in Test cricket. Currently, he is one of the best wicketkeeper-batters across the world.