Can Rishabh Pant be the left-handed Sehwag in Champions Trophy?

Samarth Srivastava
Published on: 7 May 2017 2:18 AM GMT
Can Rishabh Pant be the left-handed Sehwag in Champions Trophy?
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Can Rishabh Pant be the left-handed Sehwag in Champions Trophy?

New Delhi: With no sign of recovery of KL Rahul from shoulder injury, when selectors will sit down to select Indian Cricket team for the coming ICC Champions Trophy, the name of 19-year old Rishabh Pant will probably be on their very short list.

With every outing, this young talent is going from strength to strength. If he got selected, he would be the most probable candidate to open along with Rohit Sharma in the Champions Trophy. In that very case, seeing his fearless hitting abilities one can compare the young lad with former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag. Just like Viru, Pant also has the tendency of hitting the ball from the very beginning.

One more similarity which triggers to compare Pant with Viru is his ability of playing shots on the on-side, like latter. If Pant remained on the top gear, he can do wonders for India by wreaking havoc for opponent side in powerplay overs.

Interestingly, Pant's coach Tarak Sinha revealed that he is called left-handed Virender Sehwag in his club. He added that he was even called junior Yuvraj Singh initially.

Also read: Even the ‘God’ reserves golden words for Rishabh Pant

“At such a tender age, he has excellent hand-eye coordination and is a brilliant reader of the game. He also has got a great hitting capability, which makes him more valuable. Initially termed as junior ‘Yuvraj’, he is now being compared to Virender Sehwag for his policy ‘if it is a bad delivery, it is meant to be hit’,” said Rishabh Pant’s coach Tarak Sinha.

Also read: Rishabh Pant: New kid on the (cricket) block

Owing to his tremendous form and fearless gameplay, he will be the top candidate to be selected for the big contest, beginning June 1. Gautam Gambhir, however, has also produced some good runs in the Indian Premiere League. But, Pant could be given preference, seeing him also as a replacement of MS Dhoni, whenever he hangs his boots.

After his breath-taking 43-ball 97-run knock, he had even earned the praise of the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar. Master Blaster had termed Pant's fiery knock as one of the best innings he has ever seen in the all 10 seasons of the IPL.

Samarth Srivastava

Samarth Srivastava

Employed as sub-editor at newstrack.com. A learner, who loves covering sports, entertainment and defence kind of stuff.

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