'Look at what Adam Gilchrist did for Australia': Gavaskar suggests bold change to harness Rishabh Pant's talent in T20Is
Rishabh Pant has been a roaring success in Test cricket but hasn't been able to replicate that in white ball matches despite his aggressive batting style.
Rishabh Pant continued his rich vein of form in the recently concluded fifth Test against England, scoring a century and a half-century. The match came on the back of a rather ordinary run with the bat for Pant in the preceding five-match T20I series against South Africa and the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 before that. Pant scored his fifth Test century, smashing 146 runs in just 111 balls in a stunning counter attack that gave India the advantage in the first three days of the match. He then scored 57 in the second innings. This took Pant's career Test numbers to 2123 runs scored at an average of 43.32.
This is in stark contrast to Pant's numbers in white ball cricket - he has scored just 715 runs at an average of 32.50 in ODIs and 741 runs at an average of 23.15 and a middling strike rate of 123.91 in T20Is. He is yet to score a century in white ball cricket.
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Batting great Sunil Gavaskar said that India would benefit from sending Pant in as an opener in white ball cricket, as opposed to the finisher role that he has been given so far in his career.
"Not a bad option at all. Look at what Adam Gilchrist did for Australia in white ball cricket. He used to bat at No.6 or 7 in Test cricket but while opening in white ball cricket he was destructive. Maybe someone like Rishabh Pant can be equally destructive, he will get that many more overs to play," Gavaskar said on Sports Today.
"We have been talking about him as a finisher but then he comes in there, starts slamming the ball and straightaway gets out. Here, he will have the awareness that he doesn't have to go bang bang from the first ball. He will have a few deliveries to get used to the pace and movement. In England there will be a little more movement even with the white ball than anywhere else. That can actually work in India's favour," he said.
