Virat Kohli Defends Rishabh Pant After Another Poor Outing Against New Zealand

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has come to the rescue of young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant after the latter has recorded a string of low scores against New Zealand in the recently-held Two-match Test series.

Kohli had faced a lot of heat from the fans and experts when he decided to include Pant in the Test squad placing him above the in-form Wriddhiman Saha. Pant has been a regular starter for team India in the limited-overs format since MS Dhoni’s departure.

However, he hasn’t done justice with his potential as he has failed time and again with the bat and the gloves for the Men in Blue.

India tested many wicketkeeper-batsmen:

Team India has failed to find the perfect replacement of Dhoni since his departure after the  2019 World Cup, last year.

Pant has been given numerous chances but the young lad has failed miserably. However, in the limited-overs format, KL Rahul seems to be cementing his place since the time he has replaced Pant and has been a regular starter for team India portraying his versatility across the batting order.

On the other hand, in Tests, Saha had his seat fixed as he depicted good performances game after game after game. But, to the shock of the fans, the Indian team management decided to go ahead with Pant in the Test series and the decision turned out to be futile.

Virat Kohli Defends Rishabh Pant After Poor Show

“We have given a lot of chances to Rishabh, you need to figure out when is the right time to give someone a chance. I don’t see anyone taking their place for granted in this team, no one here has come in thinking that I am going to play every game,” Kohli told reporters after the conclusion of the two-match Test series.

“Rishabh has worked very hard behind the scenes, so we thought of giving him a chance in this series. We thought he will come good in this series, but as a collective unit, we did not show a good batting performance,” he added.

India have finally been beaten in a Test series. New Zealand did the unthinkable on Monday as they cruised past Team India by seven wickets to win the second Test of the series.

Having won the first game by a giant margin of 10 wickets, the Kiwis sailed in cruise control as they lifted the Test series and handed India their first Test series defeat since the inception of the ICC World Test Championship.

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