Rishabh Pant is a big and integral part of our plans, says India coach Rahul Dravid

India coach Rahul Dravid with skipper Rishabh Pant. Pic/AFP

India head coach Rahul Dravid made it clear that the under-fire Rishabh Pant is a "big" and "integral" part of the set-up heading into the T20 World Cup in Australia.

Pant, who led the side in the five-match series against South Africa that ended in a 2-2 draw after the last game was called off due to rain, managed only 58 runs in the five innings that led to some questions being raised about his place in the shortest format.

However, Dravid was very clear that Pant is going nowhere. "Personally, he would have liked to score a few more runs, but it is not concerning him. Certainly, he is a very big part of our plans going ahead in next few months," Dravid said during the post-match press conference.

‘Don't want to be critical'

He was categorical that he won't judge someone based on one series - whether it is batting form or captaincy.

"I just don't want to be critical. In the middle overs, you need people to play a slightly attacking brand of cricket, to take the game on a little more. Sometimes it's very hard to judge it based on two or three games," the head coach said.

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In fact, Dravid was impressed wit Pant's strike-rate of 158 plus during the IPL where he managed an underwhelming 340 runs for the Delhi Capitals.

"In the process [of playing an attacking game], he might go wrong in a few games, but he remains an integral part of our batting line-up with the power he has and the fact that he is a left-hander is important to us in the middle overs," he said.

Rishabh's captaincy lauded

About his captaincy, Dravid felt that Pant did well considering that he led the side back in the series from 0-2 down. "To bring a team back from 0-2 down and to level it at 2-2 and give us a chance to win was good," Dravid said.

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