'He is somebody who disappoints': Kevin Pietersen lashes out at young Indian batsman

Former English batsmen Kevin Pietersen has given his opinion on the young Indian batsman. He feels that the player has not shown any significant growth since his debut.

According to Pietersen, Rishabh Pant has "disappointed" the former player by not living up to his "expectations".

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Pant scored 31, 37*, 28, 38 and 37 in the first five IPL matches for the Delhi Capitals. On Friday against Rajasthan Royals, Pant was dismissed for just 5 runs.

"Rishabh Pant is somebody who disappoints. Because he is someone, I expect so much from," Pietersen said on Star Sports. "And, I am yet to consistently see him giving performances with the bat day in and day out. In order to get that Indian tag, and to play international cricket, you need some consistencies. You need to get better. I am seeing the same player I saw a year before, and a year before, and a year before that. As long as he has been playing, he’s been inconsistent."

Pant has been seen as a successor to MS Dhoni behind the stumps after the CSK skipper announced his retirement earlier this year. Sanju Samson has been the other option. And he had an impressive start to this year's IPL. But his form has dropped too since last few matches.

However, Pietersen thinks that Samson’s transformation was more impressive than Pant. He said: "Whereas, when I see Sanju Samson, I see completely different. The dedication, the commitment he put in to turning up for this year’s IPL, that impressed me. That actually got him ahead of Rishabh Pant for me, just purely from diet-base, fitness base and from dedication."

"He said I want to go out there and do everything I can to play cricket for India. He’s got runs after runs. He failed a couple of times. But that dedication is what you need to get into international cricket because when the going gets tough, the tougher gets going. And international cricketer is a tough space."