IND vs WI | Surinder Khanna backs Rishabh Pant to perform well for India
Former Indian cricketer Surinder Khanna said that he has always believed that Rishabh Pant is India's future and he deserves the backing. Pant was criticized for his poor batting in T20Is versus South Africa and Bangladesh but has come good against the West Indies, scoring 110 runs in 2 ODIs.
Rishabh Pant has been a topic of massive debate ever since the 2019 World Cup as half of the people believe that he is not doing justice to his chances while the other half believe that Pant deserves more backing and patience and that eventually, he will come good. Former cricketer Surinder Khanna is from the latter half of people and he said that he always will believe in Pant's ability and that he will come good for India and deliver the required consistency.
"For me, he has always been the guy. He is young, you learn after committing mistakes. Give him time, in the last couple of innings, he has shown patience and has played well. You need to give him freedom, with experience you learn things," Khanna told ANI.
Pant showed great maturity along with Shreyas Iyer to build a strong partnership after India lost three quick wickets in the first ODI. Although India ended up on the losing side, Pant's maturity was a huge positive and in the next game, he showed his natural ability to hit sixes at will providing India with a strong finish in their batting.
With the series decider to be held in Cuttack, Khanna is hopeful of seeing a cracker of a game as both teams will go hard at each other.
"Both teams will try to win the series. West Indies' players have responded very well in the T20I and ODI series. In the second ODI, Indian top-order fired, Rahul and Rohit both played well. The match will be very exciting, the bowlers would be under pressure," Khanna asserted.
In the first ODI, the West Indies played the spinners well and thus they won the game convincingly. In the second ODI Kuldeep Yadav ran through the West Indies batting and thus it is clear that spinners will play a major role in the final and that is exactly what Khanna feels.
"Our spinners need to be on the spot. Windies batters like to go for big shots, everyone knows about this. In the first two matches, we have seen how they have played, so our side would go in with preparation," Khanna concluded.