Decoding Rishabh Pant's T20 Struggles

Despite having all the strokes in the book to succeed in the T20 format, he had an abysmal IPL 2022 campaign for the Delhi Capitals (DC) and an even poorer run in the home series against South Africa, for which he was the stand-in captain...

- Renin Wilben

When Rishabh Pant first made his presence felt as a swashbuckling hitter of the cricket ball, it was believed that he was tailor-made for the white-ball formats of the game. But just like the case with Virender Sehwag before him, he has inexplicably failed to deliver in limited-overs cricket. And much like Sehwag, he has enjoyed much better success in Test cricket. If we compare Pant's record in Test cricket with that in white-ball cricket, it is like chalk and cheese. After 30 Tests, the left-hander averages a healthy 40.85, having scored 1920 runs with four hundreds. In comparison, he has played 24 ODIs and has a below-par average of 32.50. But, it is his T20I numbers that are most shocking.

Having played 48 games, he has 741 runs at an average of 23.15 and a strike rate of 123.91. It's not like Pant has been batting lower in the order. In fact, for quite a while, he has been batting as high as No. 4. Despite having all the strokes in the book to succeed in the T20 format, he had an abysmal IPL 2022 campaign for the Delhi Capitals (DC) and an even poorer run in the home series against South Africa, for which he was the stand-in captain.

INABILITY TO COUNTER OPPOSITION PLANS