‘Rishabh Pant will score 100 runs in every game if…’: Ravichandran Ashwin’s bombshell claim
Ravichandran Ashwin believes Rishabh Pant is yet to reach his full potential amid criticism for his poor shot selection during the recent five-match Test series against Australia.
Pant’s recent performance has come under scrutiny after he failed to replicate his heroics from the 2020-21 Australian tour. in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, where India managed to win by one match in Perth.
Ravichandran Ashwin says Rishabh Pant is yet to reach his full potential amid criticism for poor BGT 2024-25.
In the recent five-match Test series, the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman could only score 255 runs at an average of 28.33, his highest score being 61 in the final innings in Sydney. India lost the Test series 1-3 to Australia, who won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after more than a decade.
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Well, Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired after the Adelaide Test last month, believes Rishabh Pant has one of the best defenses in world cricket and has the ability to score a hundred in every match if he can find a balance between his aggressive play and patient approach.
The recently retired Indian off-spinner revealed that Pant has never been dismissed by him in the nets and is never bowled over or LBW. Ashwin also praised the Indian left-handed batsman for having every shot in the book and the ability to turn a match around in just a few overs.
He has all the options but needs to find a balance: Ravichandran Ashwin on Rishabh Pant
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, “We have to tell him properly what he has to do if he has to bat hard or with intent. He didn’t score a lot of runs, but he didn’t play like someone without a run. He has a lot of time on his hands. Rishabh Pant is yet to reach his full potential.”
He added: “He’s got all the shots – reverse, swing, everything – but the problem is that all those shots are high-risk. With his defence, he’s bound to score runs every game if he faces 200 balls. The point is to find that middle ground. If all he combines that, he will score 100 runs in every game. He has to find the middle game.”
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Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant is known for his aggressive style of play but Ashwin was not surprised by his tight and determined innings in the first innings of the Sydney Test. Pant scored the second-fastest Test fifty by an Indian, taking just 29 deliveries, in the first innings after his much slower, hard-fought 40 in the first innings against Australia at the SCG.
Rishabh Pant rarely comes out playing defence: Ashwin
Well, the former Indian all-rounder pointed out that Pant played two different strokes in one game. They were batting him everywhere and he scored 40 and then he scored an incredible 50 in Sydney, Ashwin pointed out that everyone has forgotten that first innings and praised his fiery batting, which is very unfair.
He signed off by saying, “We have to understand that Rishabh Pant rarely comes out playing defence. He has one of the best defenses in world cricket. Defense has become a challenging aspect; he has the best defense with a soft hand. I will change the name if someone can show me how Pant gets out while defending 10 times.
“I bowled him a lot in the nets; he didn’t get out; he doesn’t get an edge; he doesn’t get LBW; he has the best defence. I tried to tell him that. One opinion about Rishabh was that he plays a lot of shots; he has to struggle in Test cricket.”
