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Ravichandran Ashwin has explained how Rishabh Pant can realize his true potential in the coming years.
Rishabh Pant (Picture Credit: Sportzpics)
Ravichandran Ashwin feels Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has one of the ‘best defences in world cricket’ and can score a century every match if he finds the ‘middle ground’ between his aggression and attrition. The recently-retired spinner said Pant has never got out to him in the nets and doesn’t even get an edge or LBW.
Pant has been a huge talking point in recent weeks since he failed to recreate his heroics from the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the recent 2024-25 edition. In the latter, he scored just 255 runs at an average of 28.33 with a best score of 61 in the final innings in Sydney. Ashwin, meanwhile, pointed to his knocks of 36 (67) and 97 (118) at the same venue in the 2020-21 series which helped India earn a draw and keep the rubber alive.
“I have always grown up hearing that you have fight it out,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, as quoted by PTI. “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. 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.”
“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 threw more empathetic light on Pant, saying that it has been a difficult era for batting, where even the likes of Kane Williamson and Steve Smith haven’t got as many runs as they’d have liked.
“Test cricket is playing according to situation. In the last seven years, batting has become significantly difficult, from 2018 to 2025. But, in the WTC cycle, batting averages have decreased. Joe Root is in his own zone. Of course, Williamson… Smith has rediscovered again. What we realised is, Rishabh Pant has played in these times.”
Ashwin: If Pant combines all of it, he will score 100 runs every game
Ashwin added that India needs to tell Pant ‘properly’ what method he needs to apply when he goes out to bat. He feels that although his stats in Australia were underwhelming, he looked in good rhythm, only failing to realise his potential.
“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,” Ashwin said.
“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,” he added.
Pant is currently in the race to make India’s squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy, which is set to be announced before January 12.
