Pant opening? My hopes are up ..

[jusarrived]

I have hated everything TM has done for past few years under Shastri/Virat  and have been disappointed so far with Dravid and even today hurled a few abuses when I heard KL was replacing Ishan assuming he was opening, but this changes everything for me.

 

Things will definitely be different under Rohit and Rahul 

[Lord]

Dravid idea apparently. Bad start but if they stick it has lot of potential especially with WC in India

[Adamant]

I am not sure if this will work, if it does then Dhawan is gone and we are going to have fiery starts. 

TM is trying to carve  an Adam Gilchrist out of Pant, let's see how it goes. 

Full points for the efforts though. 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Adamant

[Pollack]

If they want to try someone new as an opener then try Shaw. It's a no Brainer. Expect no consistency.

[Adamant]

32 minutes ago, Pollack said:

If they want to try someone new as an opener then try Shaw. It's a no Brainer. Expect no consistency.

Yes, Shaw and Rohit. 

Shaw never plays at a strike rate less than 100, a rare commodity amongst Indian openers. 

[jusarrived]

1 hour ago, sarchasm said:

Dud decision to make him open and happy it bombed. The sooner it's buried the better. India desperately need Pant at 4 or 5.

 

Pant is not your typical top order batsman who thrive on timing and placement - think of Rohit, Mayank, Shaw.

 

If you make Pant open and expect a fiery start then he would resort to clearing the in field and muscling the ball. That may come off but it's high risk and a good enough opposition can tie him up. Pant is a bit like Dhoni and Yuvi who like to stroke the ball around to settle in and then find their range. His batting is made for middle order.

 

I am never surprised at Indian fans who have this naive belief Pant would be a massive success up top. But Dravid/Rohit not being aware of this is disappointing.

 

India dosent need some one like Pant who blows hot and cold at 4-5 and hes not like Yuvi or Dhoni . 

This experiment can still fail, but Pant lower down the order wont hold his spot for too long he has a better shot opening and if ot works we really dont need to look at any other opener and if he fails openers are dime a dozen 

[Clarke]

I'm just wary of giving too much responsibility to the superstar. Middle order is good & no captaincy headache plz even in the future, he continues to play his natural attacking game and further improves on it in terms of some shot selection.

[Lord]

1 hour ago, sarchasm said:

Dud decision to make him open and happy it bombed. The sooner it's buried the better. India desperately need Pant at 4 or 5.

 

Pant is not your typical top order batsman who thrive on timing and placement - think of Rohit, Mayank, Shaw.

 

If you make Pant open and expect a fiery start then he would resort to clearing the in field and muscling the ball. That may come off but it's high risk and a good enough opposition can tie him up. Pant is a bit like Dhoni and Yuvi who like to stroke the ball around to settle in and then find their range. His batting is made for middle order.

 

I am never surprised at Indian fans who have this naive belief Pant would be a massive success up top. But Dravid/Rohit not being aware of this is disappointing.

 

He might not be a timer but thats not the only type of openers who are successful. Gayle,Hayden used to muscle it too.

 

And he definitely plays his strokes from the start rather than looking to settle in.Infact that has been his criticism even in Tests and in recent ODI. With field more chances of getting away with it.

[ShoonyaSifar]

Is it a long term plan? Clearly no. Dhawan is the preferred opener. So what's the point in randomly shifting players while seniors remain slotted at their preferred positions?

 

But am glad at lest there has some out of the box thinking. It didn't work today, that's fine but hopefully the TM will try out different combos (including shuffling the seniors)

[Majestic]

26 minutes ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

Is it a long term plan? Clearly no. Dhawan is the preferred opener. So what's the point in randomly shifting players while seniors remain slotted at their preferred positions?

 

But am glad at lest there has some out of the box thinking. It didn't work today, that's fine but hopefully the TM will try out different combos (including shuffling the seniors)

I think this is a long term indication of T20I openers.

 

Rohit and Pant to open with Kohli, KL and SKY in the top 5.

[Majestic]

In ODIs, Shaw should open but not sure why they are trying Pant here. Are they looking to open a space for a batting A/R in top 6? But ultimately they will go with Dhawan at the top if he is fit I think.

[ShoonyaSifar]

18 minutes ago, Majestic said:

I think this is a long term indication of T20I openers.

 

Rohit and Pant to open with Kohli, KL and SKY in the top 5.

In that case message has to be given to Pant to start opening for DC as well. While IPL franchises would look at maximising outputs from their players and will have their own strategies, will be good for Pant to get more experience of opening the innings in the IPL.

 

Frankly I don't see that happening at DC (and even in the national team)

[SK_IH]

What was he doing trying to be Cook instead of Gilly? Good idea if backed but expect better from Pant.  Hopefully Rahul stays in the middle order, that is more important. 

[sandeep]

6 hours ago, sarchasm said:

Dud decision to make him open and happy it bombed. The sooner it's buried the better. India desperately need Pant at 4 or 5.

 

Pant is not your typical top order batsman who thrive on timing and placement - think of Rohit, Mayank, Shaw.

 

If you make Pant open and expect a fiery start then he would resort to clearing the in field and muscling the ball. That may come off but it's high risk and a good enough opposition can tie him up. Pant is a bit like Dhoni and Yuvi who like to stroke the ball around to settle in and then find their range. His batting is made for middle order.

 

I am never surprised at Indian fans who have this naive belief Pant would be a massive success up top. But Dravid/Rohit not being aware of this is disappointing.

Don't think this was a longterm thing, but trying a left/right combo up top and over all in the batting order is not a bad move.  

 

I think you make a fair point about the risk associated with Pant opening, especially in ODIs, but you never know sometimes.  Was worth a shot in home conditions against a weakish team.  

 

At a minimum, we are starting to see recognition of a problem with the top order, and some signs of change.  That's a big positive considering the last 5 years of stagnation in top order batting selection and tactics.

[vvvslaxman]

Despite all his bravado shots, Pant is not an unadulterated aggressor like Sehwag/Shaw.  He can willingly go into shell when we expect the least. 

[Lord]

3 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Despite all his bravado shots, Pant is not an unadulterated aggressor like Sehwag/Shaw.  He can willingly go into shell when we expect the least. 

which is a good thing means he has both games. Eventually he'll learn to balance it and become complete batsman.

[vvvslaxman]

Just now, Lord said:

which is a good thing means he has both games. Eventually he'll learn to balance it and become complete batsman.

 

That is not a good thing if you don't know how to rotate strike. I am talking about getting stuck without doing anything.  Pant's match up against world's best fast bowlers with new ball is yet to be tested. He smacks spinners for fun. Shaw is also weak against certain types of bowling. But his mindset is aggressive.

[Lord]

2 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

That is not a good thing if you don't know how to rotate strike. I am talking about getting stuck without doing anything.  Pant's match up against world's best fast bowlers with new ball is yet to be tested. He smacks spinners for fun. Shaw is also weak against certain types of bowling. But his mindset is aggressive.

this is first time he opened and often you can't rotate in PP. Rohit and Kohli failed too.

 

In middle order he does rotate strike enough and bashes spin.

 

Pant's mindset is aggressive too,but hes good enough to be aware what's needed.Or atleast tries to.

[Adamant]

1 hour ago, Lord said:

which is a good thing means he has both games. Eventually he'll learn to balance it and become complete batsman.

Not a good thing.... 

He isn't defending those balls, he goes into a shell, two different things. 

He needs to improve his strike rotation. 

[Lord]

1 minute ago, Adamant said:

Not a good thing.... 

He isn't defending those balls, he goes into a shell, two different things. 

He needs to improve his strike rotation. 

Its one innings where others batted similarly in that phase. WI were bowling well too.

 

In MO he does rotate