ICC Champions Trophy: How long can you keep Rishabh Pant out?

Will Rishabh Pant get a game in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy at all? It may be a happy problem for the Indian team management to have a wicketkeeper-batter of his calibre warming the benches, but the conundrum has not left the dasher in the best frame of mind in Dubai.

After sealing a semi-final spot with a game to spare, head coach Gautam Gambhir may not want to tinker with K.L. Rahul, supposedly the ‘first choice’ keeper in the 50-over format. The team management has decided to stick to the Indian team’s template of using Rahul as the multi-tasker as in the 2023 ICC World Cup, though there is an outside chance of Pant getting a game in the inconsequential tie against New Zealand on Sunday as captain Rohit Sharma is likely to be rested for a hamstring issue.

Ironical as it may sound, Pant may then be seen as a batter against the Kiwis, while Rahul will look to spend time behind the stumps ahead of the semi-final, which has a short turnaround time. The matter of so-called team balance, not to speak of the skill sets required to bat on the slow surfaces of Dubai, has been tilting the scales in favour of the Bengaluru batter, though it’s difficult to see Pant in the dugout for too long.

The Delhi boy rejoined the team’s practice session since Wednesday after being down with a viral attack, which kept him out of the practice session on the eve of the Pakistan game last week.

Interestingly, Pant has been out of India’s white-ball scheme of things since August 2024, when he last played both the away ODIs and T20Is against Sri Lanka. While Gambhir’s regime was placing faith on Rahul and Sanju Samson in the shorter formats, the only format left for Pant was the Tests, where he was a regular no. 5 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Unlike the 2020-21 tour of Down Under where a young Pant proved to be the X-factor for a below-strength team, he looked ragged in his batting approach time and again, his shot selection repeatedly inviting the ire of TV pundits. In the fourth Test at Melbourne, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar’s rant of ‘stupid, stupid, stupid’ went viral when a well settled Pant went for a fancy ramp shot and was caught at deep third man.

In the final Test in Sydney, Pant tried to fight fire with fire again when he scored 61 off 33 balls, the second fastest fifty by an Indian in Test cricket, but failed to build enough cushion for India to win the game. While it’s a question of ifs and buts as Jasprit Bumrah could not bowl at all in the second innings, the 26-year-old’s ultra aggressive approach suddenly began drawing flak. It’s the same approach which has yielded him big returns in his short but exceptional international career, but he became the fall guy overnight.

However, if Gambhir’s assertion about Rahul being the first choice keeper for now seemed a wee bit harsh on Pant, the team’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate was more balanced in fielding the question on the wicketkeepers’ dilemma. ‘’It’s been very hard on Rishabh not playing. But that’s the nature of the sport at this level,’’ the Dutchman said. The grapevine, meanwhile, suggests that the sidelining of Pant could also be a subtle way to 'discipline' the matchwinner's maverick ways.

‘’KL has been good. He didn’t get many chances…we’ve got to keep Rishabh up and running. We never know when we’re going to need him but certainly to have two wicketkeepers of that calibre is a nice thing to have,’’ said Ten Doeschate, an associate of Gambhir from his IPL days.

With the team management suddenly warming up to the existence of Pant, Rahul was asked about his so-called competition for the keeper-batter’s spot. ‘’He’s obviously a very, very talented player and he’s shown all of us what he can do and how quickly he can change the game. So yes, there’s always the temptation for the team to either play him or play me. There’s always that,’’ he said at an official media interaction on Friday.

It’s a tough one for Gambhir & Co, but for how long can you keep Pant out?

Catch the match

India vs New Zealand, Sunday, 2 March

Venue: Dubai International Stadium

Time: 1.00 pm UAE (2.30 pm IST)