Florida [US], June 15 (ANI): Ahead of his side's ICC T20 World Cup group stage game against Canada, Indian fielding coach T Dilip lauded wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant for his performance since his return to the international cricket after a life-threatening road accident back in late-2022.
India will take on Canada in their last group stage game of the tournament in Florida on Saturday. India is into the Super Eights with three wins in three games and a total of six points. Canada can no longer qualify for the next stage, but have done a decent job sitting at fourth spot with a win and two losses in their debut T20 World Cup.
Speaking ahead of the game in the pre-match presser, Dilip said about Rishabh, "The best thing is that Rishabh has done so well in his comeback. Especially the batting is considered to be very good. But one of the good things about him is the way he came back as a wicket keeper. Especially with an injury he had, to come back as a wicket keeper and do that lateral movement, so that is very heartening to see."
Further answering on Pant's batting, he said that Pant tries to do prepare for everything during his practice sessions and keeps his options ready.
In three matches played in the testing conditions of Nassau County Stadium in New York, Pant scored 96 runs in three innings at an average of 48.00 and a strike rate of 124.67, with the best score of 42. He is India's top run-scorer in this tournament.
Talking about playing in the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill Florida, Dilip said that the team has played at the venue before so it is aware of the conditions slightly.
"Yes, the weather is challenging here, you do not know about when the rain comes and all, but we have been prepared for all these things. So, we are focusing on what we can control and at this point of the time, we cannot control the weather conditions. So, we are trying to prepare ourselves in the best possible way but we want a game to happen," he added.
On playing cricket in the United States, Dilip said that it feels great to be playing the sport where it is not a main one and added that there are many enthusiastic fans in USA as well.
"As an Indian cricketer, we never feel that we are away from home because most of the time we get that encouragement. But it is good to see that cricket is being spread all over the country and especially in these kind of places where the infrastructure is getting better and I am sure the pitches over a period of time will get better with the playing. But as a group, we are enjoying here out there whether it is playing or off the field we have been really nice," he concluded.
Squads:
Canada Squad: Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva(w), Ravinderpal Singh, Saad Bin Zafar(c), Kaleem Sana, Dillon Heyliger, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon, Rayyan Pathan, Nikhil Dutta, Rishiv Ragav Joshi, Dilpreet Bajwa
India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal. (ANI)
