Should India consider alternatives to Rishabh Pant in T20Is? Here’s What the Numbers Say

Rishabh Pant is one such player for the Indian cricket team. The southpaw’s well-established big-hitting abilities make him a perfect fit for the format, but he has consistently failed to deliver, as seen in the crucial Asia Cup Super 4 match against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday.
Pant entered the batting order with India at 91/3 in 9.4 overs. A solid foundation had already been laid, and Virat Kohli looked like a million bucks at the other end. Pant’s task was straightforward. Get the odd boundary out and hand over the strike to Kohli, who will explode in the final 5 overs.
But exactly the opposite occurred. He did hit two boundaries, one of which was through a streaky outside edge, but he never looked at ease at the crease. Pant was unsure how to proceed with his inning and eventually succumbed to a mediocre reverse sweep.
Captain Rohit Sharma defended India’s strategy, claiming that the team has adopted a high-risk strategy. This argument would have been valid in Pant’s case if he had been caught at the boundary while attempting to go for a maximum. Given the field, the shot he got out to wasn’t a percentage shot, and therein lies his biggest challenge – shot selection.
A look at his statistics will show how much he has struggled in T20Is for the national team. Pant has scored 274 runs in 14 innings of T20Is in 2022, with an average of 24.9. So far in his 49-inning T20I career, he has three half-centuries and nine knocks of over 30 runs.
The most serious issue, however, is his career strike rate of 126.16. It is a very low scoring rate for a batter who bats mostly in the second half of a T20I innings, and Pant needs to think about how he wants to approach the format.
For the time being, it is up to the selectors and Indian team management to find solutions ahead of yet another T20 World Cup.
There are options, and Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will have to make some difficult decisions if they want to lift the trophy in Australia.