New Zealand pacer Tim Southee has showered praise on Rishabh Pant for his fearless batting skills. He highlighted that the young wicketkeeper-batsman has the ability to turn around the game in his team’s favour.
Southee felt he would end up on the losing side after he dropped Pant off Kyle Jamieson’s bowling on the Reserve Day.
However, the 32-year-old bowler took a sigh of relief when the youngster was dismissed by Trent Boult on the last day of the finale at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
Talking about the incident, Southee revealed that there were demons in his head after dropping Pant’s catch in the WTC final but he had to bury them quickly before bowling the next over.
“I’d be lying if it (that he dropped the chance for winning the WTC final) didn’t go through my head. Rishabh Pant can take the game away from you in the space of five or six overs. So what was already in a tight game there were some demons thrown around inside my head. But I had to drop those as I bowled the next over,” the Kiwi pacer said on The Matt and Jerry show.
“You’ve just got to suck it up and move on. But I was very relieved when Pant was out. It was a horrible feeling. Probably the worst feeling for a cricketer when you drop a catch,” Southee added.
Notably, Pant scored just 41 runs off 88 balls in India’s second innings in the high-octane clash against New Zealand.