India managed to trump Zimbabwe by 71 runs in the Super 12 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Melbourne on Sunday. While Rishabh Pant failed to fire, Rahul Dravid has affirmed that he won't be judged based on a game.
Young Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant's disappointing innings versus minnows Zimbabwe isn't a cause of concern for head coach Rahul Dravid. He alluded that the dazzling left-hander could be in the playing XI in the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup semi-final versus England at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
Pant didn't get a chance in the opening four matches, where veteran keeper-finisher Dinesh Karthik, in all likelihood playing his last global event, was assigned the role. With Karthik unable to deliver on bowler-friendly Australian tracks, Pant is back in the equation.
"I don't think we judge people on one game, and sometimes whether we play them or not is not based on one game," Dravid stated after India's 71-run triumph, where Pant's contribution was a sheer three. After that, Dravid gave a good enough indication that the decision to field Pant wasn't taken in isolation, as the coach was potentially looking at a match-up with leg spinner Adil Rashid in the semis.
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"Sometimes it's just match-ups. We must look at the skills we might need against the kind of bowlers we might come up against. So, many things go into these decisions," said Dravid. He also firmly restated that team management had never given up his faith in Pant.
"Yeah, in a sense, it's not that we ever lost confidence in Rishabh. We've got confidence in all of our 15 players who play here. It's only 11 guys who can play, and it depends on the combinations that you have. The fact that they are here and part of the World Cup means we have a lot of confidence in them. It means they can be called on to play in the XI anytime," assessed Dravid.
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"Yes, you can only play 11 at a time, and some people sometimes miss out and don't have to play, but again, Rishabh is someone that, as a lot of you would have been seeing, has been travelling with us. He's been batting a lot in the nets. He's been hitting many balls, doing a lot of fielding practice, keeping practice, and keeping himself ready. The opportunity came for us today [Sunday] to give him an opportunity," Dravid reasoned.
Dravid was satisfied with Pant's purpose against left-arm spinner Sean Williams, but the enactment was wrong. "It didn't work out today, but absolutely no -- I'm not bothered about that because he took the right option. His role was to take on the left-arm spinner which was there, and sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn't."
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Pant being a leftie also gives the team interpretations among specialist batters. "Sometimes it provides us with the opportunity, as well, to play Rishabh, keeping obviously this game in mind as well but just keeping the future in mind, just opening up our options. I think everyone is available for selection; just because somebody missed out on this game doesn't mean we can't go back to him and decide on it -- we might go the same way. We might also go a different way," added Dravid, trying to put his guard up on the conceivable transformation in the playing XI.
Zimbabwe game was a dress rehearsal for semi-final
Dravid communicated that skipper Rohit Sharma deliberately decided to bat after winning the toss as the side wanted to defend ahead of the semi-final in Adelaide. "Couple of the things that we did want to achieve was to try and bat first if we got the opportunity," he conveyed.
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"We needed to win the toss for that. Just because we had bowled first against Pakistan when we came here, we wanted to experience what it was to set a score in these conditions. Also, we felt that if we batted first, it would allow us to play 20 overs and get into that ability of still trying to get a par, par-plus score batting first," expressed Dravid.
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Dravid is not the one to give away playing XI, but he said he would go into the contest with an open mind, considering the shorter dimensions of the Adelaide Oval. Questioned about trying out leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, Dravid articulated: "As I said earlier, I think we have a completely open mind about everyone in our 15. We believe anybody who comes into the 15 will not potentially make us weaker, the kind of squad we've picked."
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Ball is gripping in Adelaide
Dravid will take a call after looking at the Adelaide track, as the Bangladesh-Pakistan tie saw spinners playing a significant role.
"Again, we'll have to go there and see. I watched some of the games today, and I know the tracks were slow, and they gripped and turned a bit," he considered.
"We might be playing on a completely new strip in Adelaide, and the strip we played with against Bangladesh, to be honest, did not spin. It was, again, a different kind of wicket, and it was played at Adelaide, as well. Of course, if it's slow, we'll play according to those situations. If we think it might play differently, then we'll have to put up a squad to match that," concluded Dravid.