Sehwag: If you feel Pant is a match-winner, why don’t you play him

Pant hasn't played since the series opener against Australia in Mumbai, where he sustained a concussion when he tried to pull a bouncer from Pat Cummins.

Published : Feb 01, 2020 21:43 IST , NEW DELHI

Rishabh Pant has struggled for form and game time lately.
Rishabh Pant has struggled for form and game time lately.
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Rishabh Pant has struggled for form and game time lately.

Former opener Virender Sehwag on Saturday questioned the Indian team’s decision to bench Rishabh Pant during the ongoing T20 International series in New Zealand.

Pant hasn't played since the series opener against Australia in Mumbai, where he sustained a concussion towards the end of India's innings when he tried to pull a bouncer from Pat Cummins.

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“Rishabh Pant has been left out, how will he score runs? If you bench Sachin Tendulkar also, he won’t be able to score runs. If you feel he is a match-winner, why don’t you play him? Because he is not consistent?” Sehwag asked.

“During our time, the captain used to go and talk with the player (in question). Now I don’t know if Virat Kohli does the same or not. I am not part of the team setup. But people say that when Rohit Sharma went to Asia Cup as captain, he used to talk to all the players,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

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Stressing that captains need to properly communicate with their players, Sehwag said even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is considered one of India’s greatest skippers, at times, failed to communicate with his team-mates.

“When MS Dhoni said in Australia that the top three are slow fielders, we were never asked or consulted. We got to know from the media. He said at the press conference but not at the team meeting that we are slow fielders,” Sehwag said, referring to the 2012 CB series in Australia.

“Talk at the team meeting was that we need to play Rohit Sharma who is new and that’s why there will be a rotation policy. If the same is happening now, that’s wrong,” he added.

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