Ian Smith exudes confidence in Rishabh Pant's future; says 'he will get better with time'

Former New Zealand cricketer-turned-commentator Ian Smith heaped praises over Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant and asserted that latter will become a big name in future. Pant, who is touted as an eventual replacement for former skipper MS Dhoni has struggled to deliver on early promise.  22-year-old  was even promoted as India’s first-choice wicketkeeper, however, things have only gone downhill for Delhi lad.

However, former New Zealand skipper exuded confidence in Delhi-based cricketer while saying that Pant will become a big name in future. Speaking to a news daily, 63-year old commentator said that Pant is still in a learning phase and will become better with time.

He asserted that keeper-batsman is going to make it big in gentlemen's game and said that Pant has to learn a few things and added that team manment is teaching him virtues of patience.

So far, Pant has scored just 374 runs in ODIs, at an aver of 26.7 and his career aver stands at 20.5 in shortest format of game.

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Rahane's valuable piece of advice for Pant

Rahane, who was dropped from Test-playing XI during 2018 tour of South Africa, wants Pant to visualize that an opportunity could come his way anytime. "You should try and focus on what he can control as a player and keep visualizing that you will get an opportunity. You kw what your role is. For Rishabh, he bats at 6 or 7, so keep visualizing about what if he gets an opportunity and what his role is. Keep it simple," said Rahane. 

22-year-old Pant, who till five months ago was India's first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman across formats, has lost his spot in limited-overs cricket to KL Rahul and red ball place to a much accomplished Wriddhiman Saha. 

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