Leaving out Pant for the T20 WC will be the best thing for India: Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer believes that leaving out Rishabh Pant from the Indian middle-order will be the best thing for the team in Australia. Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, the former Indian opener said that Pant doesn’t fit in the middle order as his records are not upto the mark there. He also added that Dinesh Karthik should be playing ahead of him.

“India need to figure out whether Rishabh Pant plays or not. The Indian think tank has been thinking a lot about putting Rishabh Pant in. He has been brilliant and we have talked about it many times. In Test cricket and in the ODIs, he has played series-winning, game-changing knocks, but that has not happened in T20 internationals or even in T20s,” Jaffer said.

“Leaving out Pant from the World Cup will be the best thing”

Adding more, he said that Dinesh Karthik usually bats at number 4 or 5 in the Indian Premier League and therefore, he is a good fit in the Indian batting order too.

“So India needs to figure out if they want to stick with Rishabh Pant in the top six or if they want to play Dinesh Karthik, who has done really well since the Indian Premier League. For me personally, Rishabh Pant does not fit in number 4 or 5. His best place is to open the batting, which I don’t think will happen. I feel leaving out Rishabh Pant in the World Cup will be the best thing,” the former batter added.

India will host Australia for a three-match T20I with the first match taking place on Tuesday. While discussing the playing XI of the side, Jaffer said that he would like to see Axar Patel and Dinesh Karthik feature in the playing XI.

“I think Axar Patel has done really well in recent times, so I don’t know why India has not trusted him, because he has won matches with his batting,” he said.

India have picked both Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant for the upcoming T20 World Cup. It is going to be interesting to see who finds a place in the playing eleven.

India squad for T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.