E-Paper
Sign in
Rishabh Pant fails to settle the ODI wicketkeeper selection debate, failure in Vijay Hazare Trophy adds fuel to fire
Rishabh Pant's performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy raises concerns as he scored only 22 while chasing 321 against Saurashtra.
Rishabh Pant’s Vijay Hazare Trophy audition was always going to be graded on an unforgiving curve, and today’s slip-up doesn’t help.
Chasing a daunting 321 against Saurashtra in Bengaluru, the Delhi captain and wicketkeeper fell for 22 off 26 balls, leaving his side with a mountain still to climb, and more importantly, leaving Pant with another awkward data point in a selection season that already feels crowded.
Rishabh Pant’s dismissal would always be headline material, especially in a tournament where an over can change the match. But the timing is cruel. There have been whispers around ODI selection, with reports during this VHT campaign already framing his outings through the lens of an ODI snub.
That context turns this 22 into a talking point. Delhi needed him to be the stabiliser and the anchor of the chase, the one who could absorb the pressure and then accelerate. Instead, he exited before even being able to set up the chase, the sort of innings that neither proves from nor builds a selection case.
Also Read: Dhruv Jurel gatecrashes the Rishabh Pant-Ishan Kishan ODI selection debate with 160* in Vijay Hazare Trophy
And this is exactly where the wicketkeeper selection debate bites. In India’s current ODI ecosystem, being a wicketkeeper batter isn’t a tiebreaker anymore; it is the entry ticket. The job description now demands role clarity, the ability to handle spin, and also the ability to close the innings.
That competition is real. KL Rahul has been established as the ODI option for long, while others keep nudging the conversation through domestic performances.
Pant does have a recent reminder of what his best looks like. Just three days earlier, he made 70 for Delhi in the seven-run win over Gujarat, stepping in after Virat Kohli’s 77 and adding the kind of control that is supposed to be his calling card in ODIs.
But that is the point: this kind of knocks need to become a pattern, not an exception.
For Pant, the pressure isn’t only about runs. It is about signalling that he has got a rhythm in 50-over cricket. He needs to show the kind of reliability that makes the selectors take a comfortable sleep at night after adding his name to the sheet. Because in a wicketkeeper race where now three names have a claim, a 22 in a big chase can feel a lot bigger than it actually is.
