Rishabh Pant is the only player who can hit shots like this short arm whip to midwicket for four, which proved it. However, it does not quite compensate for the glaring drop in runs. Even though his scores in his last six white-ball matches have been 3, 6, 6, 11, 15, and 10, India may need to reconsider their decision to back Pant in the long run if his awful form does not improve. This, along with a few other middle-order puzzles, explains why India lost the third ODI in New Zealand by a score of 1-0, despite the fact that the match appeared to be over for the hosts when rain intervened and washed it out. 

When play was stopped due to rain, Finn Allen scored a 57 off 54 balls and Devon Conway was cautious with an unbeaten 38 off 51 balls, guiding New Zealand to 104 for 1, well ahead of the DLS target. India knew they were out of jail after a shoddy batting performance that was only supported by a skillful fifty from Washington Sundar, but the match did not end with a result because the 20-over mark had not been reached. Shreyas Iyer missed out on a fifty, but when India couldn’t accelerate properly around the 20-over mark, the damage was done again. 

Suryakumar Yadav was caught in slip, and Deepak Hooda tried to hook with a feather touch, but Pant’s dismissal once more stood out for its timing. India were ready to build on Pant and Iyer’s 30-run stand at 85/2 just after the 20th over. However, Pant gave in to the pressure of a few dots and missed a pull from Daryl Mitchell to deep square-leg, scoring 10 out of 16 balls. The desperateness of that shot was exemplified by Pant’s decision to pull even though he was unable to get on top of the bounce. Pant is an unconventional batsman who has the ability to produce both victories and defeat. 

White-ball cricket, on the other hand, is more time- and result-dependent, necessitating greater consistency in terms of runs and contributions. As a result, some questions will be posed later, if not now. Is Pant in the white-ball team because of his performance in Test matches? Is it because he uses his left hand? Given that Dinesh Karthik should also be out of the T20 mix, has he been overlooked? 

However, Pant himself is not concerned

He stated that comparing his white-ball and red-ball numbers while he is still 25 lacks logic and should only be discussed when he is 30-32 years old, in an interview prior to the start of the third One-Day International. He also knows precisely where he wants to bat.

Cricketer ‘#Rishabpant got offended when harsha asked him about his form. #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/42FPU0iApW

— Shubhankar Mishra (@shubhankrmishra) November 30, 2022

“I’d want to open in T20s, No. 4-5 in ODIs and Tests I’m already batting at No. 5. A record is just a number, my white-ball record is not bad either. Comparison is not a part of my life, I’m just 24-25 so you can compare once I’m 30-32. There’s no logic in comparing before that.”

Pant said, when it was suggested to Pant that his Test numbers looked better when he came across more as a white-ball player.

Even though Pant’s unconventional batting makes it appear to be more suited for shorter formats, there is this undeniable feeling that he is more of a natural fit in Tests, regardless of how Pant may want to look at his career and numbers. Pant may have slowed down because he was captain in the IPL earlier than expected, but he hasn’t looked at home in shorter formats recently. He isn’t proficient at cultivating the strike. Furthermore, the more he slips into a trench, the more planned his out-of-prison chances will generally turn into. However, Pant denies it.

“There’s no real need to premeditate in one-day cricket but you have to in T20s,”

he said on Wednesday. Few hours later, he got out to a pull that looked nothing but premeditated.

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Brief scores: India 219 in 47.3 ovs (Washington 51, Iyer 49, Mitchell 3/25, Milne 3/57) vs New Zealand 104 for 1 in 18 ovs (Allen 57, Conway 38*) No result. New Zealand won the series 1-0.