Ravi Shastri in a recent interview has revealed that Rishabh Pant will be “rapped on the knuckles” if he keeps on playing rash shots like the one he did against the West Indies recently. He also added that Pant has let his team down.
“We’ll let him be but at times when you see a shot, like the first ball dismissal in Trinidad, if he repeats that, then he will be told. There will be a rap on the knuckles, talent or no talent,” the head coach said.
“As simple as that. Because you are letting the team down, forget letting yourselves down. In a situation where you have the captain at the other end, a target to chase, the need of the hour is sensible cricket,” Shastri was quoted as saying in an interview with Star Sports.
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“No one will even think of changing his style. Like Virat said, reading the situation, match-awareness and shot-selection become crucial. If he can fathom that, he could be unstoppable. It could take one game, it could take four games. He has played so much IPL cricket, he will learn. It’s time now for him to step up and show how devastating he can be.
The Indian captain Virat Kohli said: “The only expectation from Rishabh is that he read situations well.”
“We don’t expect him to play the way you might be thinking. It is about analysing a situation and dealing with it in your own way. Someone like Rishabh will hit five boundaries in a difficult situation compared to me, who likes to take singles or twos and get out of it. Everyone has their own game but reading the situation and decision-making is an expectation from everyone in the team, not just Rishabh,” Kohli said.
