Dean Jones Feels Rishabh Pant Is A 'One-Trick Pony' And Still In The Learning Phase Of His Game
He needs to improve his off-side play.
Rishabh Pant must improve his game on the off-side to be more than a one-trick pony, feels Aussie World Cup winner Dean Jones.
Pant has been considered by many to be the man who will replace MS Dhoni when Captain Cool calls it quits.
Reuters
But off late he ha got a lot of stick from the coaching staff and the media due to his reckless batting. In fact he was replaced in the Test side by Wriddhiman Saha.
¡°He¡¯s still a young kid, still learning his craft, still doesn¡¯t know what¡¯s going on a little bit,¡± said Jones while speaking to Reuters.
ALSO READ: People Are Trolling Rishabh Pant Because They Can¡¯t Find A Reason For His Presence In The Team
¡°He needs to work more on his strokeplay through the offside. At the moment, he¡¯s just a bit of a one-trick pony," he added.
¡°We know he¡¯s got an off-side game, he¡¯s just got to work more. It wouldn¡¯t take long to change but he needs to be very specific in his training programme right now,¡± he went on to say.
AFP
Jones used the example of Quinton de Kock, who was their top-scorer in T20I series in India.
¡°Quinton de Kock changed his game, that was very evident in the last T20 series against India,¡± he said.
¡°Everyone thought he struggled to hit the ball between point and mid-off and they bowled there. But through lots of net practice and good technique work, he hit a lot of boundaries. And all of a sudden they couldn¡¯t line him up properly because he had other options to score.¡±
ALSO READ: BCCI's Official Stand On Captain Cool - We Are Moving On From MS Dhoni And Backing Rishabh Pant
Pant has played 11 Tests when Saha was injured and made use of the opportunity with a hundred against England and then hit 159 not out vs Australia.
His ability to hit the big shots means he is a good bet in the limited overs formats. However the likes of Ravi Shastri and Vikram Rathour have said that his choice of shots have very often let the team down.
AFP
¡°When you are going through a bad phase you start doubting your strokeplay. Ultimately you¡¯ve got to go with the gut feel when you play T20 cricket. And at the moment I think he¡¯s second guessing his talents," said Jones.
¡°We want him to be a 360 degree style player but at the moment he feels to me that he¡¯s only 180. He only scores down the ground or on the leg side and once you get a player doing that, you can control them and shut them down,¡± he added.
¡°He¡¯s a very important player, the number four has to come in at 10-2 or 100-2. (India) probably didn¡¯t have a glue player -- to be able to work singles, still hit boundaries and be able to put on a good score -- coming in at 10-2," he emphasised.
BCCL
¡°The number four is a very difficult spot. They¡¯ve got eight series now or 29 matches minimum to work out who is their number four. But the key is let that person have five to six games. If it doesn¡¯t work then change it. It¡¯s normally a technical player who¡¯s got good technique to do that job... You need a player who can stop the bleeding, not so much a player to go and belt it.¡±
Pant has been around for 2 years and at the age of 22 has miles to go. But if he wants to maintain his place in the side, he needs to pull up his socks. The talent is there, the performance is needed.
