Should Pant open the batting in T20Is?

Former Indian batter Wasim Jaffer reckons Rishabh Pant should be allowed to open in the T20I format for India.

"The Indian think-tank should think about opening with Rishabh Pant in T20Is. I think that's the spot where he can blossom. #ENGvIND," tweeted Jaffer.

Pant has been in top form for India in Test cricket. In his 31 Tests for India so far, he has managed 2,123 runs at an average of 43.32. He has scored five centuries and ten half-centuries. His best individual score is 159*. Pant has hundreds in overseas countries like Australia, England and South Africa as well.

He is currently placed at a career-high fifth position in the ICC Test Men's Batting Rankings. He has had an outstanding 2022 with the bat in Tests so far. In five Tests, he has scored 532 runs at an average of 66.50. Two centuries and three centuries have been scored by Pant, with the best individual score of 146.

Pant has struggled to replicate those performances in the T20I format. The keeper-batter had shot to fame after his performances in the Indian Premier League, especially its 2017 and 2018 editions, in which he scored 366 runs and 684 runs respectively.

In 48 T20I matches, he has scored only 741 runs at a sub-par average of 23.15. He has managed only three half-centuries in the format, with the best score of 65*. His strike rate of 123.91 in the format does not live up to the expectations as well.

In 2022, he played seven T20Is for India, scoring mere 118 runs at an average of 23.60 with one half-century. In the recently concluded home T20I series against South Africa, he could manage only 58 runs in five innings, with the best score of 29.

In the 2022 Indian Premier League, he scored only 340 runs for Delhi Capitals in 14 games at an average of 30.91. Though his strike rate was 151.79, he could not slam a single fifty in the tournament, with the best score of 44.