Sunil Gavaskar Defends Rishabh Pant After Wellington Failure

Rishabh Pant missed a big chance on Wednesday to let the selectors take note of him for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019. The highly-rated youngster was not a part of the ODI team that recently won the series against Australia and New Zealand. The axing from the squad for such important series had left many speculate that the Pant is not a part of the team’s plan for the World Cup. However, the selectors later named him in the India A squad for the one-day series against England Lions, hinting that he was still in with a chance.

A good performance in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand could very well put him in contention for a World Cup spot. However, he did not help his cause by failing in the first T20I in Wellington. In testing conditions, the wicketkeeper-batsman  struggled to put bat to ball and tried too much before being bowled by New Zealand’s left-arm spinner, Mitchell Santner. He managed to score just 4 off 10 balls as India suffered a crushing 80-run loss.

However, Sunil Gavaskar has backed Pant, saying that it’s not easy for any batsman to score immediately after joining the team.

“I don’t think so [Wellington knock hampered his chances of sealing a World Cup berth]. There are five more matches in India as well the 50-over matches and the T20I matches against the Australians where Rishabh can make an impact,” Gavaskar told India Today.

“And he just arrived in New Zealand. Believe me, it’s very tough to score straightway when you have travelled. The jetlag was still around maybe. I am not trying to make excuses for the young man, it’s just one match and anybody can fail. It’s not a big deal,” he added.

Most of India’s batsmen failed on Wednesday as the team was all out for just 139 while chasing an improbable 220. MS Dhoni top-scored for the tourists, scoring 39.