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Cheteshwar Pujara believes that Rishabh Pant was trying to replicate MS Dhoni’s game, demoting himself to come in as the finisher.
Rishabh Pant fell for a two-ball duck against Delhi Capitals. (Image: Sportzpics)
Cheteshwar Pujara feels that the Lucknow Super Giants skipper, Rishabh Pant, was trying to emulate MS Dhoni’s game plan by sending himself out to bat fairly late into the innings during the Indian Premier League match against the Delhi Capitals at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday.
In what was a bizarre move by the LSG skipper, Pant opted to demote himself in the batting order and came out at number 7, where he faced just two deliveries but was unable to score a single run as he was dismissed for a duck.
Pujara remained baffled by this decision and feels that, regardless of his form concerns, Pant should be batting much higher and does not consider him to be a finisher.
“I genuinely don’t know what the thought process was. There’s no doubt he should be batting up the order. He’s trying to do what MS Dhoni does, but he’s nowhere near (Dhoni’s age),” said Pujara on ESPNCricinfo as quoted by IANS.
“I still feel he’s someone who should be batting in the middle overs, between (overs) six and 15. He’s not a finisher, and he shouldn’t be doing the job of a finisher,” he added.
Pant has been struggling throughout the ongoing IPL season with the bat. His tally for the season is definitely what was expected of him, considering his price tag of Rs 27 crore, making him the most expensive player in the league’s history.
Despite all this, he has only scored 106 runs from 9 games at an average of 13.25 and a strike-rate of 96, which falls far below the standards of a reputed international batter like Pant. Despite his lack of batting performances, LSG remain in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs as they have taken 10 points in the nine games played so far. This is primarily due to their star top-order batting trio of Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran, who have been in fine form leading their batting charge.
The franchise will look to return to winning ways when they take on the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 27 (Sunday).
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