Pressure on Pant

Accidental captain Rishabh Pant will expect an improved showing from the India bowlers as he plots a comeback against a marauding South Africa in the second T20I of the fivematch series here on SundayLeading India for the first time Pant had to swallow a bitter pill when David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen shot down an imposing 212 with utmost nonchalance to go up 10 in the seriesThe southpaw also had a forgettable Indian Premier League IPL where he failed to lead Delhi Capitals to the playoffsSeen as a future whiteball captain Pantrsquos stakes have suddenly come down postIPL and that has coincided with the resurgence of Hardik PandyaReturning to full fitness the pace bowling allrounder took the IPL by storm not only by his form but by pulling off a coup as he led Gujarat Titans to the title in their debut seasonAmid the growing chorus of Hardikmdashthe next whiteball captain of India Pant will be under scrutiny again as he masterminds a comebackIt may still be early days for Pant the leader but his body language never stood out and he looked under pressure on his captaincy debutDebatable decisionHe also made a debatable decision to underbowl the IPL Purple Cap winner Yuzvendra Chahal fresh from claiming 27 wickets for runnersup Rajasthan Royals At the Kotla the leggie bowled only two full oversAs for Pandya fresh after his historic success with GT continued from where he left in the IPLPandya who last played for India in November last year in the 2021 T20 World Cup dazzled with the bat with 31 not out from 12 balls to prop the total past 200Also Read2nd Test Day 2 Pope Lees lead Englands fightback after Mitchell powers NZ to 553But he failed to impress with the ball and leaked 18 runs in his only over The big headache for Pant would be the bowling department where he would have to make a call between Arshdeep Singh and pace gun Umran MalikBowlers need to come goodWhile the batting looks in perfect shape the newlook pace department looked flat in the series openerSeniormost Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not look the same bowler and leaked runs in the death overs while Harshal Patel too was taken to the cleanersYoungster Avesh Khan too failed to impress though he was the most economical among the trioIt would not be an easy task as another slipup would mean the Pantled side would have the difficult task of winning three games in a rowFresh from their individual playersrsquo success in the IPL the Proteas are finding themselves at lsquohomersquoUnstoppable MillerIn the form of his life Miller who scored 481 runs at 6871 in the IPL to play a key role in GTrsquos triumph has started in ominous fashion and looked unstoppable both against spin and pace at the KotlaQuinton de Kock failed to convert his start but the Lucknow Super Giants batter also scored a bagful of runs 508 in the IPL and he would look to make it count hereWith Van der Dussen also striking it rich the trio will form the batting backbone while the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje would look to stop the IndiansThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever