"Whenever He Gets Out, His Dismissal Looks Very Ugly": Ex-India Star On Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson were picked as the wicketkeeper-batters by India in their 15-member squad for the upcoming Men's T20 World Cup, to be held in West Indies and USA from June 1. While this is the first time Samson has been picked in an India squad for senior men's World Cup, Pant is returning to the national set-up for the first time since recovering from injuries suffered in a life-threatening car accident in December 2022. In IPL 2024, Samson has amassed 385 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 161. On the other hand, Pant has scored 398 runs in 11 innings at a strike-rate of 159. While Samson has hit 36 fours compared to the 31 smashed by Pant, the latter has smacked 24 sixes compared to the former's 17 maximums.

Ajay Ratra, the former India wicketkeeper-batter, believes Pant would be his first choice over Samson, citing his good returns on being back at playing competitive cricket.

"I do think Rishabh will be given the preference to be the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter for India in the T20 World Cup. Rishabh has been doing really well since his return from injury. Plus, him being a left-handed batter in the middle-order and having lots of experience of playing international cricket in all formats is also advantageous," he said in an exclusive conversation with IANS.

In IPL 2024, as per statistics provided by Cricket-21, Samson's strike rate of 138 in the first ten balls is better than 119 recorded by Pant in the same phase. Moreover, Samson's strike-rate of 159 in overs 7-15 is more than Pant's strike-rate of 139 in that phase.

But Pant has the edge over Samson in overs 16-20 - his strike rate of 229 is more than 206 recorded by the latter. There were doubts over Pant managing his wicketkeeping