Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has expressed that Rishabh Pant is a different captain than others. The wicket-keeper batter is leading the Indian team in the five-match T20I series against South Africa.
Rishabh Pant was promoted as the captain after KL Rahul suffered an injury and was ruled out of the series. However, his captaincy career has not gotten off to a good start, as Team India lost the first T20I by seven wickets. India failed to defend 211 runs at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in Delhi.
Talking about Rishabh Pant’s leadership skills, Aakash Chopra expressed that the wicket-keeper tries to think out of the box. He cited the example from the IPL 2022 edition, when Kuldeep Yadav wasn’t given his fourth over, despite doing well. In a video uploaded on his Youtube Channel, Aakash said,
“Rishabh Pant does try to think out of the box at times. We’ve seen that he’s not given Kuldeep Yadav his four overs in the IPL, even when he had taken four wickets from his first three. This has not just happened once but on several occasions. He is a different type of captain. As far as the batting order is concerned, I don’t think Rishabh Pant is the one deciding it. Rahul Dravid would be doing that.”
It was strange over: Aakash Chopra on Hardik Pandya against Dwaine Pretorius
Former cricketer Aakash Chopra further spoke about Hardik Pandya’s over against Dwaine Pretorius, where the South African accumulated eighteen runs. He slammed Hardik Pandya for three sixes in the over. However, as Aakash pointed out, on the other three deliveries he got beaten up by the bowler.
Hardik Pandya did not get another opportunity to bowl in the match. Speaking about him, Aakash Chopra said:
“We missed Hardik Pandya. He is a gun player and he showed what he can do. While he gave away 18 runs from his over, he did beat the batter on three occasions. It was a strange over. Dwaine Pretorius had come out to attack, and he wasn’t scared of getting out.”
The Indian team will take on South Africa in the second T20I on Sunday, June 12 at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack.
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