Rishabh Pant Archives

‘Slightly overweight and bulky’ Kaneria shows concerns over Pant’s fitness

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former leg spinner Danish Kaneria has raised concerns over Indian captain Rishabh Pant for his fitness while calling him slightly overweight and bulky.

Kaneria raised concerns over Pant’s wicketkeeping stance and claimed that the issues with his keeping were due to his weight.

“I have noticed one thing that when a fast bowler is bowling, he doesn’t crouch and sit down. He keeps standing,” said Kaneria in a video posted on his Youtube Channel.

“Maybe because he is slightly overweight and bulky, he can’t come up that quickly, and he doesn’t have that much time. He just stays bent back and low, he doesn’t sit down properly,” he claimed.

Kaneria opined his concerns over the Indian skipper’s physical fitness and questioned whether he was fully fit.

“I think that shows a little concern over his fitness. Is Rishabh Pant fully fit?” he questioned.

The 41-year-old spinner also criticized the left-handed batter for his batting and asked him to take a break to improve his batting skills.

“Rishabh Pant will have to improve his batting style. There is KS Bharat available and I don’t see any wrong in bringing in Wriddhiman Saha. Just give a break to Rishabh Pant,” he concluded.

Pant, who is currently leading the Indian side in the ongoing T20I series against South Africa, has been under enormous pressure for his batting form as he has scored just 57 runs in four matches at an average of 14.25.

Meanwhile, he has been praised for his captaincy for making a comeback in the series after being defeated in the first two games against the host.

The tie-breaker final T20I match of the five-match series between the two teams will be played today.

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Pant to lead India in T20I series against Proteas, Rahul ruled out

NEW DELHI: India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul has been ruled out of the home T20I series against South Africa due to an injury, wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant will be leading the Indian side in his absence.

The right-handed batter faced a groin injury just before the on-set of five-match T20 series against South Africa, in which he had been tasked to captain the Indian team, and ruled of the whole series, reported Hindustan Times.

The left-handed batter Pant will be the captain of the Blue shirts with Hardik Pandya as his vice-captain for the T20I series against Proteas starting from tomorrow.

The Indian left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav has also been injured and ruled out of the team for the series.

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Pant misses out on his century but India takes command against Sri Lanka

MOHALI: India’s wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant missed out on his well-deserved hundred by a mere four runs but the home side piled up 357/6 on the first day of the first Test against Sri Lanka, here on Friday.

The left-handed batter Pant, who scored a quick 96 remained unlucky to reach a triple-figure mark as Suranga Lakmal cleaned him up with a brilliant delivery. The left-hander scored 96 off 97 balls with the help of nine boundaries and four sixes and put his side into the commanding position.

Earlier, after opting to bat first, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal provided a solid foundation to the home side with a brilliant 52-runs partnership for the first wicket. Rohit, who was accelerating his innings quickly, perished after scoring 29 off just 28 balls; smashing six boundaries.

Mayank, too, soon perished after putting on a brief 38-runs partnership with Virat Kohli. He scored 33 off 49 balls, laced with five boundaries.

Virat then recorded an important 90-runs partnership with Hanuma Vihari. The former captain, who was playing his 100th Test match, appeared confident to reach his much-awaited 71st century, perished after Lasith Embuldeniya castled him on 45. The right-handed batter also hit five boundaries.

Following his departure, Vihari also walked back to the pavilion after scoring a magnificent half-century. The young batter scored 58 off 128 balls, laced with five boundaries.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja then made sure that the side do not lose further wickets as the pair put on an unbeaten 25 runs partnership before the stumps on the opening day.

Ashwin (10*) and Jadeja (45*) will now resume the proceedings for the home side at 357/6 on the second day of the first Test.

For Sri Lanka, Embuldeniya claimed two wickets, while Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva, and Lahiru Kumara struck out a batter each.

READ: Imam’s century puts Pakistan in commanding position at the stumps