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Mohammad Kaif reveals why Rishabh Pant flourishes at Delhi Capitals and fails to perform in Team India

Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif believes the Indian Cricket Team doesn't have the clarity about Rishabh Pant the way his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals has.

Mohammad Kaif reveals why Rishabh Pant flourishes at Delhi Capitals and fails to perform in Team India

New Delhi, July 14: Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif believes the Indian Cricket Team doesn't have the clarity about Rishabh Pant the way his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals has. This is the reason why the youngster performs well for his IPL franchise than in the national side.

Pant was tipped to be former India captain MS Dhoni's heir as wicketkeeper-batsman until ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The Delhi cricketer's dip in form has seen him losing the wicketkeeper's job to KL Rahul in the limited-overs setup.

While talking to former India opener Aakash Chopra on the latter's YouTube chat show 'Aakash Vani', Kaif said: "Rishabh Pant is a free-flowing player. You have to set his batting position, that he will bat at this position and he will get this many overs to play. He needs to be clear in his head that he will get this many overs so that he is not thinking whether he needs to take singles, or if he needs to defend. He is an attacking batsman, he should start hitting attacking shots from the first ball."

Kaif also explained the clarity and importance Pant gets by DC coach Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly makes a lot of difference. The assistant coach of Delhi Capitals stressed on the environment Pant is getting in the national team is different.

"So, at Delhi Capitals, me, Dada and Ricky Ponting discussed a few times that whether to send Pant at no. 3 or no. 4. But later we decided that Pant should get at least 60 balls to play. It doesn't matter which position he is batting at, he needs to get final 10 overs. This thing has not yet been decided by the Indian team," Kaif added.

Pant was also seen as Team India's new No. 4 batsman but the rise of Shreyas Iyer has seen him drop in the batting order. Kaif explained that, unlike Delhi Capitals, the southpaw isn't clear whether he's supposed to play the role of an anchoring middle-order batsman or a finisher.

"He sometimes bats in the 15th over in a 50-over match. A finisher or an attacking batsman should be given the same role. The Indian team has not been able to figure out Pant's batting slot right now. But in IPL, we have figured it out. This is why he has played great in IPL, because he plays with a free-flow cricket," Kaif further explained.

Story first published: Tuesday, July 14, 2020, 15:47 [IST]
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