Rishabh Pant will score a 100 in every game if he is able to find that middle game: R Ashwin

PTI, Jan 10, 2025, 12:22 PM IST

Indian spin legend R Ashwin feels Rishabh Pant will score a century in every game if the maverick India wicketkeeper-batter is able to curb his extravagance and impetuosity as he has got “one of the best defences” in world cricket.

Hailing Pant’s ability to singlehandedly turn a match on its head, Ashwin said a lot of his shots are high-risk, something that is not allowing him to realise his full potential.

Pant scored the second-fastest Test fifty by an Indian during the fifth match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Sydney recently, after a hard-fought 40 in the first innings of the same 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,” the recently-retired cricketer added.

Pant played contrasting knocks in the two innings of the SCG Test, as his 98-ball 40 in the first was followed by 33-ball 61 in the second essay. The keeper, though, could not do an encore of his exploits in the 2020-21 BGT, when he powered India to a famous win in the series-decider at Gabba, which was until then known as Australia’s fortress.

While Pant is known for his penchant to play expansive shots, Ashwin was not surprised by the keeper’s tenacious innings in the first essay.

“I have always grown up hearing that you have 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.

“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 pointed out.

Speaking about Pant’s defensive technique, Ashwin said he is one of the best in that department and appeared to rate the Indian alongside Joe Root and Steve Smith as the best batters in the last seven years, when batting has become “significantly difficult and averages have decreased.” “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.

“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.” Ashiwn, 38, who retired from international cricket in the middle of the BGT, said he will continue to play the game.

“It was about me as an India cricketer, that’s over. But Ashwin as a cricketer is not over yet. I feel that there is still some distance for that.

“I feel that I can talk about my personal decision over a period of time. In fact, I want to document my entire story as an Indian cricketer.”