India’s former fielding coach R Sridhar recalled an incident involving Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant from Team India's 2020–21 Test series in Australia. He also backed Pant to have a bright future with the will in limited-overs cricket in the future, like Test cricket.
Notably, the left-handed batter played an unbeaten knock of 89 off 138 balls, decorated with nine fours and a six, to help India beat Australia by 3 wickets to breach the Gabba Fortress in 32 years. While Pant won the player of the match award for his match-winning show, India won the Test series by 2-1.
Well, Sridhar recently revealed that Pant remained calm about his performance in Australia when Rohit Sharma told him about his heroics with the bat in Gabba last year.
R Sridhar told cricket.com: “We were in the team room and Rohit (Sharma) came and he told Rishabh…tujhe pata nahi hai tune kya kiya hai aaj (you don’t know what you have done). And Rishabh was just normal, as if he had scored a 90-odd in a hot weather tournament in Delhi.”
He continued, “It's good that he has not set the world on fire in white ball cricket, which means there is plenty to come. I can assure you that there is some serious big stuff on the way. We saw what he did in Manchester. If that's any indication, wear your seat belts. Don't worry about what has happened in the past. The future is bright.”
Citing MS Dhoni’s example, the former fielding coach explained how Pant can excel in the captaincy role. He added, “I think no one is born with all the skills. Any skill that any person possesses is born out of the situation that he has been in and learned. MS grew up playing with adults and elderly kids. That is where he picked up all his cricketing acumen.”
Sridhar concluded, “Rishabh has grown up in a similar kind of environment. He grew up playing with big achievers. That is where he picks his cricket smartness from. He is going to be a leader in the future. Once he starts separating his leadership from his batsmanship, then that is entertainment confirmed.”
