Rishabh Pant during India vs South Africa T20 series Pic Credit: Twitter
After two consecutive defeats against South Africa in five-match T20I series, India finally managed to break the jinx and registered a comprehensive victory in Vizag. Batting first, India managed to score 179 runs in their quota off 20 overs with fifties from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan. Post this, India managed to restrict ruthless South African team for 131 runs and eventually registered a victory by 48 runs.
However, the stand-in captain Rishabh Pant didn't score runs in the game and failed to score in first two games as well. In first three games of the series, Rishabh Pant has scored 40 runs with 29 being highest which came in the first game. Seeing his batting performances being dropped, former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan warns Rishabh Pant about his future in Indian team.
He said, "You (Rishabh Pant) might have to work hard to play in the side." With competition within the team reaching to top echelon, Irfan Pathan has hinted the youngster that he might needs to put an extra effort to survive in the playing squad of Indian team.
Here's the tweet
Love Rishabh pant as a cricketer but his t20 international numbers need to get better…
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) June 14, 2022
Currently, the Indian Cricket team has many options for wicketkeeper with likes of Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, and Dinesh Karthik. In this condition, if Rishabh Pant fails to perform with the bat, his place might well be taken by either of them.
India will play their next game in Rajkot on 17th June 2022 against South Africa.