My white-ball numbers are not that bad: Rishabh Pant

Team India is locking horns with hosts New Zealand in the third and final match of the three-match ODI series. Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who has been rusty with the bat was left annoyed when Harsha Bhogle questioned on his Test record in comparison with the other two formats.

The 25-year-old dashing southpaw on Wednesday spoke with commentator Harsha Bhogle ahead of the third ODI match against the Kiwis. The keeper-batter expressed that he would like to open the innings in the T20I format and come down the middle order in the 50-over format for the national side.

“I would like to open the batting in T20Is, and in ODIs, I would like to bat at No.4 or 5. In Tests, I am batting at No.5 only. Obviously, the game plan changes when you are batting at different positions, but at the same time, the coach and captain think about what is best for the team and where the player can contribute the most. Wherever I get the opportunity, I will try to do my best. In ODIs, you do not need to premeditate much, but you have to do that in T20s,” said Pant on Prime Video ahead of the contest.

However, one of the points picked up by Bhogle left Pant miffed as the former questioned the contrasting records in the white-ball and red-ball formats, drawing parallels with legendary cricketer, Virender Sehwag.

“Sir, the record is just a number. My white-ball numbers are not that bad okay. Comparison does not make sense right now, I am just 24-25 years age of age. If you want to do the comparison, you can maybe do it when I am 30-32. Before that, the comparison does not make sense to me.”

Speaking about the match, the visitors were put to bat first and have struggled to score big after losing wickets at regular intervals. Moreover, Pant who joined the crease coming in the middle order, endured yet another dismal outing as he scored 10 off 16 balls before getting dismissed by Daryl Mitchell.