Former Pakistan pacer Atul Wassam has questioned head coach Gautam Gambhir‘s selection call on backing KL Rahul of Pant for the Champions Trophy 2025.
Pant hasn’t played a single ODI since the Sri Lanka tour and wasn’t given a chance in the ODI series against England as KL Rahul was India’s No. 1 wk-batter in the side.
Despite KL Rahul‘s unbeaten 41 against Bangladesh in India’s Champions Trophy campaign opener, Wassan feels Pant should be added to the Playing 11.
“You let Bangladesh score 228 runs after they were 35/5. Big teams will eat you up if you let them do that. Gautam Gambhir is picking his own team.”
“I am just very upset that Rishabh Pant is not playing. I don’t know why. What is going on? Pant is a mercurial player, whom the other team is scared of. Because they know that he can win matches on his own,” said Rishabh Pant.
“KL Rahul is a great player. But I don’t know what they see in him that he is playing Test matches, ODIs, and everything. Rishabh Pant is on the bench now.”
“This is how you ruin players. If you put a good player in a situation where he keeps thinking whether he will play or not, that player will go from hero to zero,” the former cricketer added.
Rishabh Pant who has played 31 ODIs so far and scored 871 runs at an average of 33.50. The Southpaw has one century and five half centuries in the format. His strike rate is impressive at 106.21.
Meanwhile, Rahul has scored 2,944 runs from 76 innings at an average of 48.26. He has seven centuries and 18-half centuries with a strike rate of 87.74.
On the other hand, Wassan wants Pakistan to beat India in their next Champions Trophy group stage encounter.
“I want Pakistan to win because it will make the rest of the tournament more exciting. If Pakistan plays well and wins, there will be a real contest,” Wassan said.
“It’s like Amitabh Bachchan-if he keeps punching the enemies nonstop, there’s no fun in watching it. I hope Pakistan makes a comeback; it will be good for the tournament,” he added.
India’s next match of the Champions Trophy 2025 will be against their arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23 at Dubai International Stadium.
