Former India cricketer Ravi Ashwin feels that star wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant can score a century in every Test match if he can find the balance between his explosiveness and his defence. Pant was put under the scanner for his dismissals in the Melbourne Test, which India could have saved but went on to lose after a batting collapse in the second innings.
His shot in the first innings was labelled 'stupid' by a fuming Sunil Gavaskar in the commentary box. Ashwin feels Pant has one of the best defences and he needs to find the middling game. "We have to tell him properly what he has to do if he has to bat solid or bat with intent. He hasn't scored a lot of runs, but he didn't play like someone without runs. He has a lot of time on his hands. Rishabh Pant is yet to realise his fullest potential," said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
"He has all the shots -- reverse sweep, slog sweep, everything -- but the problem is that all these shots are high-risk shots. With his defence, he will surely score runs every game if he faces 200 balls.
"The point is finding that middle game. If he combines all of it, he will score 100 runs every game. He has to find that middle game," Ashwin, who recently retired from International cricket, added.
Pant was criticised for his dismissals in the Melbourne Test and he played two different innings in the last game in Sydney. While he displayed his defensive brilliance in the first innings, the wicketkeeper batter went all guns blazing in the second essay. "I have always grown up hearing that you have to fight it out. In Sydney, he played two different knocks in one single game. He got hit everywhere and scored a 40, it will be the least spoken innings of Rishabh Pant. It is very unfair," Ashwin said on his channel.
"In the second innings, he scored a swashbuckling fifty, earning him a lot of praise. Everyone forgot that first innings and praised him for the second knock," Ashwin added.
The former all-rounder highlighted that Pant rarely gets out when playing defensive cricket, citing he himself has not been able to dismiss him in the nets. "We must realise that Rishabh Pant rarely gets out playing a defence.
He's got one of the best defences in world cricket. Defence has become a challenging aspect, he has the best defence with a soft hand.
"I have bowled to him a lot in the nets, he's not gotten out, he doesn't get an edge, he doesn't get LBW, he has the best defence. I have tried telling it to him. One opinion about Rishabh was that he plays a lot of shots, he has to fight it out in Test cricket," Ashwin said.
