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Shaun Pollock criticizes Rishabh Pant’s poor shot selection in IPL, urging him to learn from Krunal Pandya.
Rishabh Pant walking off after his wicket vs Mumbai Indians.
(PC: Sportzpics )
Former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock has expressed his discontent over Rishabh Pant’s continuous batting failure in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Pant, as the captain of Lucknow Super Giants, has managed only 110 runs in 11 games this season. The southpaw threw away his wicket cheaply in his last outing against the Mumbai Indians.
After scoring four runs in two deliveries, Pant attempted a reverse sweep off Will Jacks’ bowling, but the ball got the top edge of his bat and landed into the clasp of Karun Nair at the short third-man. His wicket turned out to be costly for LSG, who lost the high-scoring affair by 54 runs while chasing 215.
Pollock felt it was quite irresponsible of Pant to play that fancy shot when he could have taken more time to read the condition and settle down. The LSG skipper kicked off his innings with a boundary, which, according to Pollock, might have made him confident of playing with more urgency.
“He (Pant) got to the crease, he picked up a boundary off the very first ball. He almost bought himself 10 balls, where he could just knock it around, pick up the singles, get a feel of the surface, and then look to cash in. But, they will tell you, ‘Oh, that is my natural game’, to pull out the reverse sweep,” the Proteas legend said during a discussion on Cricbuzz.
Pollock further asked Pant to take note of how Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder Krunal Pandya contributed with the bat in his last match against Delhi Capitals after being promoted up in the order. The former cricketer felt Krunal might not have the skills of a specialised batter, but he played according to the nature of the surface.
“Now we watch that game, where you see him (Pant) do that, and then you watch Krunal Pandya, who has got nowhere near the ability that Pant has got, nowhere near the experience he has got, walked in a similar situation, he managed to get himself in and then he made them pay later. So, I don’t know how we explain Pant’s shot selection. In his mind, he must have felt that there was a shot on offer,” Pollock explained.
Pant will return to action when Lucknow face Punjab Kings in their next IPL fixture away from home next Sunday, April 4. After losing two matches in a row, LSG remain sixth in the league standings with 10 points.
