IND vs NZ: Salman Butt Surprised By Team India's Decision To Promote Rishabh Pant Ahead Of Suryakumar Yadav In ODI Series

Team India lost the ODI series to New Zealand after the second and the third ODIs were washed out due to rain. India lost the first game to the Kiwis and as it turned out the remaining two ODIs could not be played. The Kiwis came back well to win the ODI series 1-0 after conceding the T20I series.

The focus was Rishabh Pant in this ODI series. He scored 6 and 11 in the T20Is and then managed only 15 and 10 in the ODIs. Pant has been struggling with form in white-ball cricket. Since his ODI ton against England earlier this year, the southpaw has not scored too many runs in this series.

His scores in the T20Is against South Africa and New Zealand are hardly readable. His last five scores in T20I cricket are 27, 3, 6, 6, and 11 before the ODI series started.

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Rishabh Pant An Out-Of-Form Batter: Salman Butt

The former Pakistan skipper blasted the Indian think tank for sending Pant above Suryakumar Yadav in the batting order. SKY score over 1000 runs in T20IS this year but could not make the most of his opportunities in the ODI series. He scored 34 * and 6 in the two ODIs.

“He’s (Pant) a flashy player, plays with a lot of freedom but he hasn’t been able to deliver the kind of performance that was expected of him in the current (New Zealand) series. He should have scored more runs. But I didn’t understand why he was batting above Suryakumar Yadav. You are playing an out-of-form batter in place of someone who is in the form of his life and is playing his best cricket. The in-form player should play more overs. He’s the No.1 batter and you are sending him below an out-of-form player,” Butt said on his Youtube channel.

The former Pakistan skipper further said that this can have an impact on SKY who had had a good year so far in T20I cricket. In ODIs, so far this year, the right-hander has scored 260 runs in 13 games at an average of 26.00.

“I don’t know what’s going on. This can impact an in-form player. I don’t know whether this was the case here or not but a batter who is in the form of his life would want to play more deliveries,” he added.

Despite being out of form, Pant was chosen over Sanju Samson in two of the three ODIs. The right-hander was not considered for the T20I series against the Kiwis.

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