The IPL fixture between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday had a Rishabh Pant versus Sanju Samson subplot. The RR skipper scored a brilliant 86 off 46 balls and won the personal battle against his DC counterpart, who was dismissed for 15 off 13. Pant’s team, though, won the match.
Next month, Pant and Sanju will be teammates at the T20 World Cup and make no mistake, the former will be the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter and Sanju his back-up.
Pant is a special player. Very few in world cricket can match his skill-set. At the same time, his T20I record is not that impressive. A tally of 987 runs in 56 innings and strike-rate of 126.37 is passable at best. But the left-hander brings far greater value than his numbers. He is a match-winner and the team management trusts him.
Overall, this IPL has gone well for Pant. He has scored 413 runs in 12 matches at a strike-rate of 156.43. But he has played just one big-impact knock — 88 not out off 43 balls against Gujarat Titans.
Sanju has 471 runs from 11 matches at a strike-rate of 163.54. He has played several high-octane innings — 71 not out off 33 against Lucknow Super Giants, 68 not out off 38 against GT, 69 off 42 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and 82 not out off 52 balls against LSG in the first-leg. He is in the Indian team by dint of his performances in this IPL.
But here’s the catch. If Pant has failed to replicate his Test success in white-ball cricket, Sanju is yet to bridge the gap between IPL and international cricket. In 25 T20Is, he has 374 runs at an average of 18.70 and a strike-rate of 133.09. Along with Jitesh Sharma, he was given opportunities in the shortest format, when Pant was recovering from a horror car accident. Sanju failed to capitalise on chances and cement his place in India’s T20I team.
As far as this IPL is concerned, Sanju has been more consistent. Also, he is easy on the eye, being an excellent timer of the ball. But Pant carries a certain X-factor and he is a player who can do the impossible on his day. There’s a technical aspect as well. Pant is a left-hander and a specialist middle-order batter unlike Sanju, who bats at No. 3 for RR. With Pant at No. 5, India can have a left-right combination in the middle overs.
Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody concurs. “I think his (Pant’s) added advantage is that he is a left-hander, which I think is going to be really important to have that sort of point of difference in the middle-order, particularly in the middle overs, which is probably the time that he will come into the game,” the former Sunrisers Hyderabad coach told Star Sports.
“You don’t want to sort of find yourself in a position where you are stuck with two right-handers and your opposition line up bowlers accordingly. So, I think he gives you that flexibility, and he is a specialist middle-order player,” Moody added.
To start with, Pant will be an automatic pick in the XI at the T20 World Cup and Sanju might even end up without a game in the tournament. But if the team management decides to rest Pant in a couple of group league matches to manage his workload — against the United States and Canada — or if they consider tinkering with the batting combination, then the RR captain, on current form, becomes a nice Plan B in the scheme of things.
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