Wasim Jaffer said that newly-appointed Team India captain Rishabh Pant's lack of runs in the ongoing series has become the "missing piece" of India's middle-order batting.
Follow Us
Former India player turned coach Wasim Jaffer said that newly-appointed Team India captain Rishabh Pant‘s lack of runs in the ongoing series has become the “missing piece” of India’s middle-order batting. He also shared that until Pant improves his off-side game and learns to attack pacers’ wide lines, Team India might continue to struggle in the middle overs same as Tuesday. Notably, India were at 128/2 after 13 overs against South Africa in the 3rd T20I and they could post a total above 200 in a must-win match. But the next four overs saw two wickets fall for only 20 runs along with two dropped catches of Pant and Hardik Pandya and India managed 179-5 in 20 overs where Pant scored only six off eight balls.
While speaking on this to ESPNcricinfo, Jaffer said: “No, it’s not like that. I think Rishabh Pant’s lack of runs is the missing piece of India’s batting. If Rishabh Pant plays till the 18-19th overs, perhaps we won’t see these. Rishabh Pant knows fast bowlers keep it wide against him and take their pace off so he needs to improve on that. Apart from that Shreyas Iyer batted decently and got out playing a good shot. The two dropped catches were a lucky escape. Had Hardik Pandya got out at that stage, with (David) Miller taking that catch, it would have been an issue for India because Dinesh Karthik was already out and there was no one left.”
READ MORE: IPL Media Rights: How Disney Star retained IPL Media Rights for 2023-27 cycle
The veteran continued: “So I think Rishabh Pant now needs to perform better. He’s a very important factor in this team. He needs to understand that bowlers will try to bowl away from his eye-line and further improve his off-side game.”
However, Rishabh Pant was in a good form during the recently-concluded Indian Premier League. Although he couldn’t score much, he was able to contribute to the side with the bat while leading as well. As far as the recent game is concerned, the bowling unit did well in the must-win game compared to the last two matches and helped India win. After the win, India are at 1-2 with two games in hand. They need to win all the remaining games to win the series. The fourth T20I will take place on Friday, July 17 at Rajkot’s Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium as well.
READ MORE: Sri Lanka vs Australia: Australia ODI records and stats at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
“It was nice to see two overs of spin there, and both were economical and successful overs… Powerplay went well in the first match too when they (South Africa) were chasing a big total… but in this game, the wickets after the powerplay of Klaasen, van der Dussen and Harshal Patel’s dismissal of David Miller were game-changing. van der Dussen and Miller’s wickets broke the back of the South African batting lineup. Klaasen came next, Chahal dismissed him brilliantly, giving a slow and tempting delivery. Overall, the bowlers’ performance was really good. They couldn’t perform to expectations in the last two games but made up for it here nicely,” Wasim Jaffer signed off.
