Rishabh Pant: ‘It’s a shame’ – Michael Vaughan feels India made a ‘big mistake’ not picking him for World Cup

Vaughan also drew comparisons between Rishabh Pant and Engand allrounder Jofra Archer.

Former England captain turned TV pundit Michael Vaughan is of the opinion that India have made a mistake by not selecting wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant in their 15-man squad for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.

When India named their squad for this summer’s World Cup last month, Pant’s name was missing as the BCCI selection committee instead opted for the more experienced Dinesh Karthik.

At the time, Pant had scored more runs (25) and held more dismissals (14) in IPL 2019 for Delhi Capitals than Karthik had while leading Kolkata Knight Riders. Since then, Pant has added scored two half-centuries to help Delhi Capitals into their IPL playoffs for the first time since 2012, and during Wednesday’s Eliminator versus Sunrisers Hyderabad he hit a match-winning 49 off 21 balls, with five sixes.

(READ: Hitting sixes is my muscle memory, next time will finish the game: Pant)

Watching Pant bat against SRH, Vaughan said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “I think India have made a big mistake. Looking at India’s batting line-up, they’re all right-handers except for [Shikhar] Dhawan. I think they need a different combination and Pant is a firecracker.

“He will make mistakes but as we’ve seen in the IPL, he gets it right more often than not.”

(READ: Shreyas Iyer recalls two overs “of hell” before Capitals beat Sunrisers)

Vaughan, the captain of England’s successful Ashes-winning team in 2005, also drew comparisons between Pant and Jofra Archer who last week made his ODI and T20I debuts for England after gaining qualification to play for the country.

“Pant is similar to Archer, they’re both so natural,” said Vaughan. “I like those players, it’s a shame [for Pant].”