NEWS
Follow UsAustralia is a place where Rishabh Pant has always shone. However, a country in which he has had immense success over the last two tours has remained unproductive this time around, with him scoring just 96 runs at an average of 19.20 across the first three games. Pacers have found him out, causing many issues with outside off-stump deliveries from the over-the-wicket angle.
Hence, to solve that, former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar advised Pant to play according to the situation in the next two Tests and not look to tee off from the beginning. Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “What Rishabh Pant has to do, like everybody else, respect the first half an hour; respect a little bit when he gets in there, whatever the position, unless, of course, India is 525 for 3; then he can tee off.
“They get the ball to angle across. Pat Cummins and even (Josh) Hazlewood give him a little bit of a problem; Scott Boland will give him a little bit of a problem because Boland bowls around that area as well."
On the other hand, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden took a contrarian view, adding that Pant’s counter-attacking nature gives him the edge in the red-ball format, and India should exploit that.
“I have always been a fan of his. He’s kind of a different cheese; there is no doubt about it. And I would like to just see him explore that as well because he should be coming in a situation where, as I mentioned before, there are lots of runs; and if so, that’s a perfect scenario for him to be (in)," said Hayden.
“But it’s also the perfect scenario for Team India. A little bit like Rohit Sharma, I think we haven’t seen some counter-punching efforts from Rishabh, but he should have no fear in these conditions. I think in the absence of fear comes a great opportunity for Rishabh and Team India."
