Pant recently lost his spot as India's first-choice wicketkeeper in white-ball cricket to KL Rahul, who has been performing exceptionally on the pitch for the past few months now.
Team India cricketer KL Rahul was left absolutely clueless when a journalist asked him when wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant be back into the national side.
The entire fiasco took place during the post-match press conference of the first T20I between New Zealand and India in Auckland on Friday (January 24).
A journalist asked Rahul--"Do you see Pant coming back into the side and playing in this series?"
To this, Rahul replied: "It's not upto me, I mean."
Pant recently lost his spot as India's first-choice wicketkeeper in white-ball cricket to KL Rahul, who has been performing exceptionally on the pitch for the past few months now.
The left-handed batsman picked up a concussion during India's first ODI clash against Australia and was ruled out for the final two matches of the series.
Due to his injury, KL took on the wicketkeeping job for the 'Men In Blue' and performed brilliantly to help his side secure the three-match ODI series against the Aussies 2-1.
During the first T20I at the Eden Park, KL Rahul played a serging innings of 56 runs and handed a flying start to India's chase of 204 runs after losing Rohit Sharma in the second over.
The Men In Blue ultimately cruised to a six-wicket win over the Kiwis and took a 1-0 lead in the five-match T20I series.
Ahead of the series opener, skipper Virat Kohli had confirmed that KL will be keeping the stumps for the 'Men In Blue' in limited over cricket.
"It definitely allows us to play an extra batsman. It is an important factor while choosing the side. You can look at Rahul Dravid's example in the 2003 World Cup, when he started keeping behind the stumps, the balance of the side became a lot better and the side was able to play an extra batsman," Kohli said.
"KL Rahul is open to playing anywhere because he is a proper batsman. He is not a guy who will go slam-bang from ball one, but he can do what he did in Rajkot, He has reflected on what he needs to do in the past six months. It is a boost that he can keep wickets as well," he added.
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 "KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant")
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