Rishabh Pant is expected to hold a key for India in the marquee series.
Rishabh Pant is expected to hold a key for India in the marquee series. The wicketkeeper-batter boasts an impressive Test record on English soil, scoring 556 runs in 9 matches with the help of two centuries and as many as fifties.
After the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from Test cricket, Pant will be one of India’s senior-most batters, and the onus would be on him to bat with responsibility and make big runs against the Ben Stokes-led side.
Ahead of the series, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has advised Rishabh Pant to be measured in his approach.
Ganguly believes Pant played “too many shots" and swung indiscriminately in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 on Australian soil.
“I did not like what I saw of him in Australia. Too many shots. Just too many shots. He was just swinging at every ball, and that’s not how you bat in conditions where the ball was moving around a bit," Ganguly told Revsportz.
During the tour of Australia, Rishabh Pant amassed 255 runs from nine innings. His scores across the five Tests were 37, 1, 21, 28, 9, 28, 30, 40 and 61.
Ganguly asked the southpaw to temper his instincts and prioritize defence. “He (Pant) needs to show fight. He has a very good defence. That’s what I want to see. I want him to fight and grind down. Be ugly. Look ugly. But don’t swing at every ball and give it away. I know he is a stroke-maker and that’s his strength, but then he will have to adapt and play accordingly," Ganguly remarked.
The tour of England will mark the beginning of India’s new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. Rishabh Pant has been named the vice-captain for the England series, while Shubman Gill will perform the leadership role.