Ravichandran Ashwin believes that Rishabh Pant is still yet to reach his full potential amidst the criticism for his poor shot selection during the recent five-match Test series against Australia.
Pant’s recent performance has been under scrutiny after he failed to replicate his heroics from the 2020-21 Australia tour in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, where India managed to win a single game in Perth.
Ravichandran Ashwin says Rishabh Pant is yet to reach his full potential amidst criticism over poor BGT 2024-25
In the recent five-match Test series, the Indian wicketkeeper-batter could score only 255 runs at an average of 28.33, with his highest score being 61 in the final innings in Sydney. India lost the Test series 1-3 to Australia, who clinched the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after over a decade.
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Well, Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired after the Adelaide Test last month, believes that Rishabh Pant has one of the best defenses in world cricket and has the ability to score a century in every match if he can find a balance between his aggressive play and patient approach.
The recently retired Indian off-spinner has revealed that Pant has never been dismissed by him in the nets and never edges or gets LBW. Ashwin also praised India’s left-handed batter for having every shot in the book and the ability to turn a match around in just a few overs.
He has all the shots, but he has to find 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 solidly 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 realize his fullest potential.”
He added, “He has all the shots—the reverse sweep, the slog sweep, everything—but the problem is that all these shots are high-risk shots. With his defense, he will surely score runs every game if he faces 200 balls. The point is finding that middle ground. If he combines all of it, he will score 100 runs every game. He has to find that middle game.”
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Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant is known for his aggressive style of playing, but Ashwin wasn’t surprised by his gritty 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 gets out playing a defense: Ashwin
Well, the former Indian all-rounder has pointed out that Pant played two different knocks in one single game. He got hit everywhere and scored a 40 and then scored a swashbuckling fifty in Sydney, Ashwin pointed out that everyone forgot that first innings and praised his fiery knock, and that is very unfair.
He signed off by saying, “We must realize that Rishabh Pant rarely gets out playing a defense. He’s got 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 my name if someone can show me Pant getting out while defending 10 times.
“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 defense. 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.”