• Home
  • Who Said What
  • Pant Or Samson Gambhir Chooses This Player To Be In Playing 11 For T20 World Cup

Pant or Samson? Gambhir Chooses 'This' Player To Be In Playing 11 For T20 World Cup

Gautam Gambhir picks his keeper for T20 WC (X.com) Gautam Gambhir picks his keeper for T20 WC (X.com)

On 30 April, India announced their squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The 15-member squad included some new names and some shocking exclusions, that sparked numerous debates and discussions, one of which was regarding the choice between Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant, who could make it to the playing XI. In a recent interview, Gautam Gambhir, talked about this 'big' World Cup dilemma and expressed his opinions on it.

Gambhir agreed that both the players have equal quality and skill but the reason why he chose Pant was because he is a middle-order batter unlike Sanju. He further added that looking at India's top combination, they desperately need a wicketkeeper somewhere in the middle and not at the top.


Here's what he said:

“Both have equal quality. Sanju has amazing quality, and even Rishabh has amazing quality. If I had to pick, I’d probably pick Rishabh Pant because he is a natural middle-order batter. Sanju, if you see in IPL, he has batted at number three. Rishabh has batted at number five, six and seven I think,” Gambhir told Sportskeeda.


“Looking at Team India’s combination, we need the wicketkeeper in that position and not in the top order. So I’d start with Rishabh Pant. Plus, he is a left-hander in the middle-order, which gives you a left hand-right hand combination.”

Talking about their individual performances through the IPL season, Sanju Samson has amassed a total of over 500 runs from 13 matches at a strike rate of 158.30, making this his best IPL season so far. 

On the other hand, coming from the terrible accident, Rishabh Pant has also delivered some impactful performances for his team. He has scored 446 runs at an average of 40.54, and a strike rate of 155.40.