India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant came under some scrutiny after his dismissals in the recent Leeds Test defeat against England. India, who were bowled out for 78 in the 1st innings, lost the match by an innings and 76 runs.
England, thanks to a brilliant century by captain Joe Root and half-centuries from the top three batters, put on 432 in the 1st innings and then Ollie Robinson picked a fifer to keep India to 278 runs, earning England the series-leveling victory with two more Tests to go.
Some poor form from Rishabh Pant has made sure that his detractors attack him vociferously, including Pakistan’s Salman Butt who said Pant doesn’t have the technique to succeed in English conditions.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Butt said: “Rishabh Pant doesn’t have the technique to succeed in English conditions. He cannot just walk down the track to bowlers. He can survive for a while like this or may play one or two good knocks. But, Rishabh Pant cannot become a successful Test batsman playing this way. He needs to develop some patience and also work on his defensive technique."
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“Pant has a lot of shots but his defensive mechanism is not strong enough for Test cricket, especially in such conditions. In India, he can taste success, and Australia as well, because the ball doesn’t swing a lot. But wherever the ball swings or seams, Rishabh Pant will find it very difficult to tackle the challenges with the kind of technique he currently possesses,” he added.
23-year-old Pant, who has played in all the three Tests of the England series, has scores of 25 at Nottingham, 37 and 22 at Lord’s, and 2 and 1 at Leeds for a total of only 87 runs.
However, Virat Kohli backed Pant during the post-match presser and said: “Well again, as I said, with one loss I cannot assess that or I cannot start analyzing that as a captain. Definitely, the management is not going to start analyzing that because we are not failing as a team. Consistently we are not losing, this is what I mean, when I say that, we failed this game as team definitely and we take responsibility for that."
