“Rishabh Pant has set a benchmark for himself” - Anjum Chopra explains why keeper-batter gets criticized after a few failures

Former India women’s captain Anjum Chopra has stated that Rishabh Pant gets criticized for failing in a few games because he has set a very high benchmark for himself. According to Chopra, there are great expectations from the young keeper-batter because of the kind of match-winning performances he has come up with.

24-year-old Pant made his international debut in a T20I against England in Bengaluru in February 2017. He has excelled in Test cricket, scoring 2123 runs in 31 matches at an average of 43.32 with five hundreds, four of them coming in overseas conditions.

The aggressive left-hander also impressed during the white ball series in England, scoring a mature 125* in the deciding ODI at Old Trafford in Manchester. In a Q&A session on her YouTube channel, Chopra was asked why Pant gets criticized after a couple of low scores. She explained:

“As a cricketer, we are aware that we are not going to be praised every time. Neither are we going to be criticized every day. Speaking of Rishabh Pant, he has set a benchmark for himself since his debut in international cricket.”

The former India women’s skipper elaborated:

“Since he is constantly performing well and coming up with match-winning performances, the benchmark is going higher. So when he doesn’t live up to that benchmark, people feel that he hasn’t done anything. The expectations from him are very high, that’s why he faces such criticism on days when he doesn’t perform.”

Pant had a decent T20I series against West Indies recently, registering scores of 14, 24, 33* and 44.

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“We don't think on those lines” - Pant on competition with Dinesh Karthik

Team India have been playing with both Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the playing XI in recent T20Is matches. However, according to many critics, only one of the keeper-batters can find a place in India’s T20 World Cup starting XI.

Pant, however, played down any competition between the two cricketers. Speaking to Zee Hindustan, he stated:

“We don't think on those lines. We as individuals always want to give our 100 per cent to the team. Rest depends on the coach and the captain and how the team could get an advantage from that.”

Pant and Karthik will be part of the Asia Cup, which begins in UAE on August 27. India face Pakistan in their opener on August 28 in Dubai.