Sanjay Bangar Has An Idea For Rishabh Pant To Improve His Batting After Poor Show In IND vs SA Series

Sanjay Bangar has an idea for Rishabh Pant to improve his batting in T20Is after his poor show in the recent IND vs SA T20I series. Bangar feels that Pant should open the innings for India as changing his position might help him to improve his batting in the shortest format.

Rishabh Pant did a great job as a stand-in skipper in the IND vs SA series. The series ended in a tie 2-2 with India making a comeback in the 3rd and 4th T20I. However, Pant’s batting drew a lot of criticism. In 4 innings, he scored just 57 runs with a top knock of 29 runs in one game.

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Rishabh Pant Can Bat As An Opener For India: Sanjay Bangar

While speaking to Star Sports ahead of IND vs SA 5th T20I, former India batter Sanjay Bangar gave an idea to Pant to get back his batting form. Bangar took the example of Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar, who smacked his first century after opening the innings for India once.

“I’ve been thinking about it for 3 years. If you look at Sachin Tendulkar’s career, he hit his first century in his 75th or 76th innings when he was asked to open the innings against New Zealand after batting largely in the middle-order,” Bangar said.

“Right now, the Indian team is looking at a left-right combination. Yes, Ishan Kishan is doing good right now, but if the Indian team is eyeing a left-right opening pair for the long term, Rishabh Pant can do the same job that someone like Adam Gilchrist did for Australia,” Bangar further said.

Currently, Rishabh Pant bats in the middle-order for India, usually taking the no.3, no.4, or no.5 batting slot. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are the top choice of openers for India currently. In their absence, Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad are preferred to take up the top batting slot.

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Meanwhile, India tied the five-match T20I series against South Africa 2-2. South Africa won the first two games while India bagged victory in the next two matches. The 5th T20I witnessed no result as it was washed out due to rain. India will now face Ireland in a two-match T20I series starting June 26.