The two players are incredibly similar.
Prodigiously talented batsmen capable of turning a game in an hour at the crease, but without the brains or the common sense to avoid throwing away their wicket when their team needs them to stay at the crease. And both capable of keeping wicket with the delicate touch of a blind dinosaur wearing oven gloves.
And, let's be honest, they both cross boundaries with their behaviour, usually more due to ignorance and stupidity than malice. Pant's comical attempt to get away with taping together the fingers of his wicketkeeping gloves this week was just yet another example.
Superficially their Test records are incredibly similar.
Umar Akmal scored 1003 Test runs in 16 Tests at an average of 35.82, He never played a Test after the age of 21 years 2 months, and only 1 of his 30 Test innings was played in Asia.
Rishabh Pant has made 1490 Test runs in 24 Tests, His average of 40.27 is higher, but largely because of a couple of extra not out innings. Interestingly by the age of 21 years 2 months he had only played a handful of Tests, but since then he has been averaging almost 15 LESS than he did in those early Tests. But his record is entirely based on good performances on grassless Australian wickets and against the West Indies. His six innings against New Zealand have been nothing short of disgraceful, repeatedly throwing away his wicket slogging when his team needed him to dig in.
In the World Test Championship Final, Pant was India's last hope to make a defendable total. He was 41 not out at 156-6, with his team 124 runs ahead and ten overs left against the old ball, and with drinks about to be taken. He only needed to stay at the crease for 12 more overs until Tea and the game would be saved, and India would be the joint World Test Champions, as New Zealand would by then have required an impossible 175 runs in a single session to win.
As we all know, Pant then utilised every brain cell in his body to play a massive slog against Trent Boult and was caught with 4 balls left before the Drinks break.
I find it extraordinary that the Indian posters on this board do not exhibit the anger and frustration towards Pant that most of the Pakistan supporters do towards Umar Akmal.
Watching both players can be incredibly exciting, but it can also be like watching a cricket-based remake of "Dumb and Dumber". Actually, that's probably the wrong Hollywood comparison. It's more like watching the Will Ferrell / John C Reilly comedy "Stepbrothers".
I have made clear before how I would have managed Umar Akmal a decade ago. My advice - and you know my professional background - would be for the captain to encourage him, be loyal to him, never drop him, but when he lets his team down in the sort of circumstances in which Pant let India down in the World Cup Final I would encourage the captain to take him behind the pavilion and punch his lights out.
So my solution:
1. Don't humiliate them in public.
2. Don't expect unintelligent people to become smart.
3. Don't expect self-centred people to become responsible.
4. Don't drop them in favour of less gifted people with a better attitude.
5. As a national coach, manage them like an old-fashioned football manager. Put your arm around them. Express an interest in their family. Encourage them. Privately lose your temper at times, but never ever in public. And rely on the captain to play the Roy Kent role, using actual or threatened violence against them if required.
Prodigiously talented batsmen capable of turning a game in an hour at the crease, but without the brains or the common sense to avoid throwing away their wicket when their team needs them to stay at the crease. And both capable of keeping wicket with the delicate touch of a blind dinosaur wearing oven gloves.
And, let's be honest, they both cross boundaries with their behaviour, usually more due to ignorance and stupidity than malice. Pant's comical attempt to get away with taping together the fingers of his wicketkeeping gloves this week was just yet another example.
Superficially their Test records are incredibly similar.
Umar Akmal scored 1003 Test runs in 16 Tests at an average of 35.82, He never played a Test after the age of 21 years 2 months, and only 1 of his 30 Test innings was played in Asia.
Rishabh Pant has made 1490 Test runs in 24 Tests, His average of 40.27 is higher, but largely because of a couple of extra not out innings. Interestingly by the age of 21 years 2 months he had only played a handful of Tests, but since then he has been averaging almost 15 LESS than he did in those early Tests. But his record is entirely based on good performances on grassless Australian wickets and against the West Indies. His six innings against New Zealand have been nothing short of disgraceful, repeatedly throwing away his wicket slogging when his team needed him to dig in.
In the World Test Championship Final, Pant was India's last hope to make a defendable total. He was 41 not out at 156-6, with his team 124 runs ahead and ten overs left against the old ball, and with drinks about to be taken. He only needed to stay at the crease for 12 more overs until Tea and the game would be saved, and India would be the joint World Test Champions, as New Zealand would by then have required an impossible 175 runs in a single session to win.
As we all know, Pant then utilised every brain cell in his body to play a massive slog against Trent Boult and was caught with 4 balls left before the Drinks break.
I find it extraordinary that the Indian posters on this board do not exhibit the anger and frustration towards Pant that most of the Pakistan supporters do towards Umar Akmal.
Watching both players can be incredibly exciting, but it can also be like watching a cricket-based remake of "Dumb and Dumber". Actually, that's probably the wrong Hollywood comparison. It's more like watching the Will Ferrell / John C Reilly comedy "Stepbrothers".
I have made clear before how I would have managed Umar Akmal a decade ago. My advice - and you know my professional background - would be for the captain to encourage him, be loyal to him, never drop him, but when he lets his team down in the sort of circumstances in which Pant let India down in the World Cup Final I would encourage the captain to take him behind the pavilion and punch his lights out.
So my solution:
1. Don't humiliate them in public.
2. Don't expect unintelligent people to become smart.
3. Don't expect self-centred people to become responsible.
4. Don't drop them in favour of less gifted people with a better attitude.
5. As a national coach, manage them like an old-fashioned football manager. Put your arm around them. Express an interest in their family. Encourage them. Privately lose your temper at times, but never ever in public. And rely on the captain to play the Roy Kent role, using actual or threatened violence against them if required.
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