WILL SELECTORS DROP PANT WITHOUT EVEN PLAYING HIM ONCE?

 

 

RISHABH Pant’s form in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy has been patchy with just one half-century in four matches but if he is dropped for the upcoming New Zealand series without being given even one ODI game in the last 18 months, it could be deemed as slightly harsh from the Ajit Agarkar-led committee. The Indian selectors will be announcing the team for the three-match ODI series against the Black Caps, starting January 11 in Vadodara and there have been speculations about whether Pant can hold on to his place in the squad.

 

It is an open secret that at least one member in the Indian team management doesn’t exactly like Pant’s high-riskhigh reward batting template and would like him to employ a more traditional way of batting. But dropping a second choice gloves man without giving him a fair go could obviously lead to more questions being asked without tangible answers being provided. In2025,Pantdidn’t play a single ODI although he was part of the Champions Trophy squad as well as in the series against South Africa last month.

 

While Ruturaj Gaikwad, a specialist opener was tried at No 4, Pant was left cooling his heels during all the three games. Pant has played only 31 ODIs since his debut in 2018. Call it bad luck coupled with his batting philosophy, he got consistent chances in two separate phases. He played 11 games between June 30, 2019 toJan 14, 2020 before COVID-19 intervened. His best phase came in the post COVID-19 times when he played 15 ODIs between March 26, 2021 to Nov 30, 2022, before he met with a horrific car accident.

 

Incidentally in this phase, he scored a ton, had two scores of 75-plus and one 85 in the 15 innings. But since his return in 2024, post accident,he has just played a solitary ODI in Colombo, which incidentally was head coach Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment. It didn’t help that Panthas only one significant score -- 70 -- in four Vijay Hazare Trophy games while flavour of the season, Ishan Kishan hit 14 sixes in Jharkhand’s opening game against Karnataka, batting in the middle-order. Even Dhruv Jurel has scored a ‘Daddy Hundred’ for Uttar Pradesh and was a part of the ODI set-upduring the last series.

 

However the tracks on which Delhi played at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru can’t exactly be called batting paradise although that can’t be an excuse for gettingoutin the 20s. But if one pauses and thinks about the impact, Pant still is a few notches above Jurel. Three wicket keepers in a squad of 15 looks like a luxury and with KL Rahul firmly entrenched as the numero uno batter-keeper, it will be interesting to see if Kishan is picked at the expense of either Pant or Jurel when both are yet to get a game.

 

The other significant name that could come up for discussion is Devdutt Padikkal, who has an unbelievable average of 92-plus across 37 games and has already scored three centuries in four games in the ongoing National Championship. However, with skipper Shubman Gill coming back, veteran Rohit Sharma at the other end and last ODI’s centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal waiting for a longer rope, it will be very difficult for the selectors to accommodate someone like Padikkal at the top of the order. One must n’t forget that Gaikwad, a specialist opener is playing at No 4, a slot that belonged to regular vice-captain Shreyas Iyer before he got injured.

 

Padikkal hasn’t done much wrong but there is simply no place in the top four right now after Gaikwad’s century and it will be difficult to slot him unless an extra specialist topbatter is added to the squad BOWLING COMBINATIONS While Jasprit Bumrah and all rounder Hardik Pandya are set to be rested from the ODIs looking at theT20 WorldCup, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh, who are also part of the shortest format, could once again geta lookin.

 

There isabuzz about veteran Mohammed Shami making a comeback after ChampionsTrophy but whether the selection committee wants to turn the clock back is the big question. The spin department, with Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav, looks more or less sorted.