Pant will be back in Indian playing XI soon, says Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting has full faith in Rishabh Pant’s match-winning abilities and is hopeful that the talented wicketkeeper-batsman will back in the Indian playing XI during the ongoing series against New Zealand.

Pant, who suffered from a concussion during India’s first home series ODI against Australia in Mumbai, is now fit but KL Rahul has done well as his replacement in both ODIs as well as T20 Internationals.

“Rishabh Pant is a young man with a huge amount of talent. I’m looking forward to working with him again during the IPL and I’m sure he’ll be back in the Indian team sooner rather than later,” Ponting answered during a Q&A session with his twitter followers.

Ponting is the head coach of Delhi Capitals and along with Pant played a major role in the franchise reaching its first play-off in seven years during the 2019 edition.

Also read: New Zealand tour: Rahul to continue dual role, Dhawan’s bid doubtful

The 22-year-old Pant has so far played 11 Tests, 16 ODIs and 28 T20 Internationals for India.

However, Indian skipper Virat Kohli ahead of the ongoing tour of New Zealand dropped hints that the team will continue with KL Rahul as the wicketkeeper-batsman “for a while” as he lends massive balance to the side just like his illustrious namesake Rahul Dravid did during 2003 World Cup.

The decision took shape when Pant, even after being fit and available for the tour was not picked in the playing XI in the first two matches.

“We are playing very well, unchanged team and did the job two with back to back wins. Don’t see any reason why we should change this balance. It has done well for the team,” making it clear that Pant might have to wait a bit longer for his comeback in the playing XI.

“It (Rahul’s keeping) definitely allows us to play an extra batsman which strengthens our batting massively. That is a very important factor as far as the team balance is concerned,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)