Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has impressed many with his fearless style of play and former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra called the youngster a “special player” for being consistent despite taking risks.
The left-hander was recently recalled in India’s white-ball squad against England. He had a fine T20I series in Ahmedabad but hogged the spotlight in the ODI series by hitting back-to-back fifties in the last two games to help India post a big total while batting first and win the series 2-1 against England.
Pant scored 155 runs in two innings at a staggering strike-rate of 152 with a total of 11 maximums – the most by an Indian batsman in the ODI series – and 8 boundaries.
Hailing Pant, the commentator said the youngster takes “a bit too much risk” and that’s now become his strength while putting him in the same grade as cricket legends AB de Villiers and Adam Gilchrist in terms of his style of play and approach.
Chopra said on Star Sports network, “Rishabh Pant plays in this fashion and will continue doing so. We all feel that he takes a bit too much risk but that is his strength and style of play and if you stick to that and despite that, if you are consistent, it means you are a special player.”
He further added, “We say the same thing about AB de Villiers and used to say about Adam Gilchrist. We are saying the same thing about Pant. It seems like he is taking a little chance by playing shots in the air but whenever he hits the ball in the air, the ball lands in the stands.”
Meanwhile, Pant is yet to score a hundred in the ODI cricket, but the former opener feels the Delhi lad might haven’t yet crossed the three-figure mark but was always batted at the top of his game.
Chopra further said of Pant’s batting in England ODIs, “India promoted him in the batting order. He was coming at No.5 but was sent at No.4 today so that the left-right combination could be maintained. Wickets had fallen one after the other, three of them had fallen together and you found yourself in a precarious situation from where you had to survive and get out.”
He signed off by saying, “He got out to a good ball, it was very full and he was probably not ready for that, Jos Buttler took a very good catch. But the destructive way he was batting, I was expecting a century, and India would have reached 370 in that case. Unfortunately, he got out. We keep waiting for a century but he is batting extremely well.”
