New Zealand vs India, 1st T20I: 5 Talking Points

#1 Pant and Karthik fail to inspire

Pant failed to make the most of his opportunity

India decided to field Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik as specialist batsmen for the series opener at Wellington. However, the duo failed to live up to their billing.

While Karthik did pull off an outstanding catch to dismiss Mitchell, he also dropped a couple of sitters. In addition, he couldn’t really get going with the bat and was caught ‘sweeping’ off Ish Sodhi. However, by the time the wicket-keeper came into bat, the game was effectively out of India’s reach with Pant & Co. not setting a solid base.

Pant’s inclusion caused a lot of excitement among Indian fans. Yet, it ended in a damp squib as the left-hander looked out of sorts at the crease.

Pant ended up trying a myriad of shots but failed to connect with any of them. Though one would be tempted to leave him out in favour of Gill in the next game, it would be a mistake of historic proportions to drop the wicket-keeper.

At the Test level, Pant has portrayed the required attributes to succeed and he needs a similar run of games to establish himself in white-ball cricket as well. Patience is a virtue and impatience is a vice. And the Indian team management needs to practice the virtue for the vice could rid them of a genuine swashbuckling option at the World Cup.