Rishabh Pant Is 'Great' Talent Getting Wasted: Kirti Azad

It is easy to criticize someone if you have not walked in the shoe. At a young age, Rishabh Pant has face a lot of criticism for throwing away his wickets in the ample of opportunities he was provided with. Pant was touted to fill in the big boots of MS Dhoni across formats.

But as he failed to capitalise on the chances due to his poor shot selection and questionable glovework, it opened the doors for KL Rahul. The Karnataka batsman, on the contrary, latched on to the opportunity and made the most of it. Former India batsman Kirti Azad believes Rishabh Pant is impulsive and can turn out to be a good batsman.

Azad also said that if he keeps his head calm if can result well for him. Highlighting the problem with Pant, Azad said that he wants to hit every ball even when he is playing a Test match or ODIs. Azad also said that Pant is a great talent who is getting wasted.

“He is very impulsive. I think he can turn out to be a very good batsman than keeper. And, if he keeps his head cool, the question is that he wants to hit every ball, you are not playing T20 cricket when you are playing a 50-overs game or a Test match,” Azad told Sportskeeda in an interview.

“You have to learn to stay at the wicket. If you stay at the wicket, the runs are going to come to you.

“Some good ball takes your wicket, I can understand, but if you hit a big shot and get out, which has happened most of the times as far as Rishabh Pant is concerned, I feel sorry because he is a great talent getting wasted,” he added.

KL Rahul was tried to bat at different positions for Team India and he delivered. His glovework was also neat which came as an added bonus for the wicket-keeper batsman. With the T20 World Cup at stake, it looks like Rahul has nearly sealed his spot as the first-choice wicket-keeper batsman ahead of Rishabh Pant.

Pant averages 26.71 in the ODIs and 20.50 in T20Is. He has also been given opportunities in the longest format and scored at average of 38.76.