'Rishabh Pant needs time to mature', says former English skipper Kevin Pietersen

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen believes that under-fire Rishabh Pant needs to be given time to mature as re is still some years before he can realise his full potential.  22-year-old is enduring a woeful run of form and has struggled to make an impact both with bat and behind stumps. Pant also copped criticism for bad DRS calls.

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'He is young': Kevin Pietersen

"He is young and he has that energy and enthusiasm, he plays in IPL, and he plays for India and is just living his dream. re will be a lot of critics around him, he's only 21 (22)," Pietersen said on Star Sports' 'Nerolac Cricket Live' show.

He added that former players and experts criticise Pant because y want him to learn from his mistakes."I observed him very closely during IPL and he kept making same mistake and when you do that continuously n pundits, experts and people who have played game want to criticize you because you should be learning from your mistakes. "But I never realized he's 21, I thought he was 24 or 25 because by that you have matured in your game and at of 27-30 is when you are playing your best sport," he added.Last week, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had asserted that youngster can't be isolated to such an extent that he starts feeling nervous on field and Pietersen feels Pant has a long way to go."If you look at all mistakes he has made and position he is in, with team and Virat backing him and with MS out at moment, he does have a long way to go."He will be looked upon on his performance and he is 21 (22), so will he be able to buy time to be an absolute superstar in Indian cricket is what we need to see, and I think he actually can."

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Brian Lara on Rishabh Pant

West Indies batting legend Brian Lara said re is "excessive pressure" on Pant."Rishabh Pant came into game creating a lot of excitement, he had a lot of aggression and Indian public expects someone to replace Dhoni immediately and in same fold but he is a totally different player."I kw time is critical with World T20 just 8 or 9 months away and y may even go with ar keeper but excessive pressure on him is unnecessary."Lara also concurred to Kohli's decision of backing Pant to allow young wicketkeeper-batsman to mature. 

"I agree with captain Virat Kohli on supporting Pant as this is a very successful Indian team and I remember West Indies team 30 years ago, we had guys in re who weren't performing well but y were kept in team because team was doing very well," he said."And we had all great players but you never heard about Gus Logie or Carl Hooper because y weren't doing that well but y were allowed to mature and I feel Rishabh Pant should be allowed to mature," he added.

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