"A left-hander doesn’t need to hit with the spin every time" - Parthiv Patel analyzes Rishabh Pant's struggles with the bat

Former India keeper-batter Parthiv Patel reckons that Rishabh Pant is failing to make an impact with the bat in the ongoing T20I series against South Africa because of a stereotypical mindset. He pointed out that the stand-in captain seems to have decided to hit "with the spin" but the tactic has only restricted his batting and has caused his downfall on a consistent basis.

On Friday in Rajkot, the left-hander once again perished to Keshav Maharaj for an unimpressive 17 off 23 balls. The left-arm spinner, not for the first time in the series, bowled one wide outside off. The Indian skipper went for a big hit but only managed a top-edge, which was easily held at short third man.

Reflecting on Pant’s similar modes of dismissals in the series, Patel admitted that the southpaw will have to make some tweaks to his game to stop being outsmarted by the South African think tank. During a discussion on Cricbuzz, he elaborated:

“Pant might have to make some adjustments. Maybe if he’s standing near middle, he can move towards off stump or something like that. A lot of times a left-hander bats with the mindset that against a left-arm spinner you have to play with the spin and hit towards mid-on or midwicket. But it is not necessary for a left-hander to bat in that fashion. A left-hander doesn’t have to hit with the spin every time.”

The former keeper-batter added about the 24-year-old’s woes with the willow:

“Pant is trying to hit the balls no doubt, but he is not picking the right deliveries to hit. That is a problem.”

Before his 17 on Friday, the Indian captain for the series registered disappointing scores of 29, 5 and 6 in the first three T20Is.

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“Pant is capable of hitting big strokes over cover and over mid-off” - Ashish Nehra

Chipping in with his views, former India pacer Ashish Nehra stated that Pant is very much capable of striking big hits over the cover and long-off regions. However, of late, he hasn’t been attempting those strokes. Nehra opined:

“Pant is capable of hitting big strokes over cover and over mid-off. We have all seen it. He did get out to Dwaine Pretorius at cover once. There was a phase when he was hitting sixes over covers and long-off. But we haven’t seen that in the IPL and this series. No matter how far outside the off stump the ball is, he is trying to hit it to midwicket or long-on, which is why left-arm spinners are troubling him.”

Pant’s dismissal on Friday left India in trouble at 81 for 4. However, Dinesh Karthik (55 off 27) and Hardik Pandya (46 off 31) played impressive knocks to lift India to 169 for 6.