In an unfortunate sequence of events, the cynosure of many Indian cricket fans' eyes, Rishabh Pant, finds himself out of the Indian ODI and T20I team. Just when the Delhi keeper-batsman seemed to be on the cusp of finally succeeding in the limited overs formats, he suffered an injury that prevented him from keeping in the third and final ODI against Australia.
India gave the gloves to KL Rahul who was having a good series with the bat. Much to the loss of Rishabh, Rahul kept the wickets admirably, suggesting much potential behind the wicket also. This led India to use the Karnataka player as their full time keeper in limited-overs format. So, what happens to Rishabh Pant now?
Many fans may be sympathetic to the young Delhi player but not the legendary Kapil Dev. In a comment made to a news website, the great former all-rounder stated: "Pant is so talented. He cannot blame anybody. He has to look after his own career.
"The only way for him is to keep on getting runs and prove everybody wrong. When you are talented, it is your job to prove people wrong. The players have to look after themselves. They should never give the option to the selectors to drop them or give them a rest," Dev told Firstpost.
After enjoying a great 2018 and beginning of 2019, Pant was the toast of Indian cricket and was being hailed as a serious talent by even the former captain and now the chief of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Sourav Ganguly. After initially being not picked for the World Cup, he eventually found his place in the squad as a replacement.
But things started going pear-shaped for Pant when his Test performances, both with the bat and ball, didn't prove to be satisfactory and Wriddhiman Saha was brought back into the side. Having lost his place in the Test team, Pant wanted to hold onto his place in the ODI and T20I side. But now, KL Rahul is the incumbent.
The Delhi Capitals keeper batsman will have to keep doing well in the IPL and other domestic tournaments to remain on the fringes of the Indian team and not end up in the wilderness.
Apart from Pant, Kapil Dev also spoke about the man who was, perhaps erroneously, compared to him in the past – all-rounder Hardik Pandya. "Pandya has to be worried. He should be worried about how fast he can get fit and come back into the team. That's important. He has to look after himself."
