India vs Hong Kong Asia Cup 2022: Rishabh Pant still has a lot to LEARN, says THIS former selector

Team India shocked everyone in their opening match of Asia Cup 2022 against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday (August 28) by dropping young Rishabh Pant and selecting veteran Dinesh Karthik for wicketkeeping duties instead. Pant has a very modest record in the T20I format, scoring only 883 runs from 54 matches at an average of 23.86 with three fifties to his name.

However, Pant is only 24 years of age and former chairman of selectors Saba Karim believes that Pant still has a ‘lot to learn’. “That (Poor T20 record) is the conundrum which Rishabh Pant needs to come out of. But lately one has seen those glimpses of the kind of form he’s exhibited in Test matches. We saw him play a blinder of on innings in one-day against England. And similarly, there have been some great performances,” Saba Karim said on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports over the top’.

“Maybe not on a consistent basis, but I do believe that there’s still so much for Rishabh Pant to learn in T20 cricket. He’s become a much better player now, but I think with more exposure one can see Rishabh Pant growing in confidence and adding far more value to this T20 side also,” Karim added ahead of India’s second Asia Cup 2022 match against Hong Kong on Wednesday.

The former India wicketkeeper believes that that the Team India management have decided to stick with Karthik for the duration of the Asia Cup 2022 and decided to use all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja as a ‘floater’.

“I think at least for the Asia cup, the Indian team management seems to have decided to have Dinesh Karthik and that is why they want to utilise Ravindra Jadeja as a floater. So, we saw him going up the order at number 4 in the last outing and we may see that happen more often as the game progresses because Jadeja brings a different kind of dimension. Also, he’s become such a mature left-hand bat who can bat up the order at number 4 or number 5 and if there’s an opportunity, he can also come down the order and score quick runs,” Karim said about Jadeja.

Rishabh Pant gives autograph to a small fan. Other guy tells him how he couldn't meet him in Delhi. Pant is a lovely guy! pic.twitter.com/vNOs2QTF7n

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) August 30, 2022

“So, which means that as of now there’s no place for Rishabh Pant in the 11. But having said that I do believe that Rishabh Pant is such an X-factor. He can win you games from situations where the team has got no chance whatsoever. So why would you want to keep someone like Rishabh Pant out of the 11,” he added.

Karim further spoke about the preference Karthik got over Pant in the Asia Cup playing XI. “I was surprised because I do stick to my earlier stand of having Pant in the side in place of Dinesh Karthik because I always felt that we need to look ahead and even now I do believe that Rishabh Pant can add far more value with due respect to Dinesh Karthik than Dinesh Karthik. But there can be possible explanations over there about which one can chat,” Karim said about Karthik.