Rishabh Pant needs to be kept away from the limelight, feels Irfan Pathan

After failing to do justice to the wicket-keeper’s spot that was elevated to unseen heights by MS Dhoni, youngster Rishabh Pant became the number one target amongst Indian fans in 2019. Pant, who was given an extended run in both ODIs and T20Is last year, failed to capitalize on his chances and a combination of his failures with the bat and some lacklustre work with gloves saw him attract a lot of hatred, with fans and experts opining that he was unfairly hogging a place in the team. 

Now, with the 2020 edition of the IPL set to be underway in a couple of month’s time, the 22-year-old will undoubtedly be in the spotlight when the T20 extravaganza commences but former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan, who is now a commentator, is of the opinion that the youngster would, in fact, benefit it the focus is completely taken away from him. Irfan also opined that Pant aside, he also believed that older players would significantly benefit from the ongoing break which, according to him, might have enabled them to extend their careers.

“If you talk of Rishabh Pant, he is a young guy, very talented, there was a lot of focus on him. So the focus getting removed from him, it will do a world of good to Rishabh Pant and many other cricketers,” Pathan said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.

“Lot of people will benefit from this break. I feel there will be a lot of cricketers whose career was at stake but would get revived now because they would have recovered mentally as well as physically, especially players who are 35-36 years of age their careers might get extended for a couple of years.”

Pant, in the past, was publicly backed to the moon and back by both skipper Virat Kohli and ex-national chief selector MSK Prasad but according to Pathan, the 22-year-old, whose place in the limited-overs side has now been taken by KL Rahul, might need a ‘kick in the back’ to get his career back on track. The 35-year-old stated that a reprimanding of sorts could do a world of good to the youngster. 

“Sometimes you are getting too much backing which Virat Kohli is backing him in the public eye as well, but I think when you get a little bit of kick on your back, that’s when if you have talent you are going to go big.

“I have no doubt that even though all the pressure is coming on him, he had to miss out some matches in T20 cricket with KL Rahul going out and doing what he did as a wicketkeeper as well and that is going to put pressure, but I think that will do a world of good to Rishabh Pant.”

Pant managed to make a handful of international appearances before the pandemic, but only managed a high score of 28, which he scored against Australia in Mumbai.