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Ravichandran Ashwin thinks Rishabh Pant has a better defensive game than Australia legend Adam Gilchrist.
Adam Gilchrist (left) and Rishabh Pant (AFP/AP)
Rishabh Pant has long drawn comparisons with legendary Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist thanks to his ability to consistently play an attacking brand of cricket irrespective of format and exceptional performance behind the stumps. Gilchrist is often credited with redefining the role of a keeper-batter in Test cricket through his aggressive batting in the lower middle-order.
With Pant doing a similar job for India, the comparison was inevitable.
However, India legend Ravichandran Ashwin doesn’t want Pant to be put in the same bracket as Gilchrist as far as batting is concerned.
Why?
Because Ashwin feels Pant has a high-quality defensive game while Gilchrist didn’t.
“He (Pant) is a fabulous player. He is not Adam Gilchrist-many compare him to Gilchrist. He didn’t have such a good defence. Pant has a high-quality defence. He should be compared with some of the best batters, not Gilchrist. Rishabh Pant can do Pant things,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Pant is currently with the Indian Test team for the ongoing England tour for a five-match series currently locked at one-all. The 27-year-old started the tour in style with century in each of the innings of the series opener in Headingly and became the first ever Indian wicketkeeper-batter to do so.
Pant in the past has often been criticised for not showing enough restraint though which has cost him dearly.
“I would like to see Rishabh Pant achieve his potential. We want him to entertain us, but he can do that and show restraint when needed. Pant is not a newbie anymore. I want to benchmark Pant to his standards,” Ashwin said.
India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak says that there’s a method to Pant’s madness and he plans his innings beforehand.
“Rishabh actually talks a lot about what he does, when he does [it], why he does [it],” Kotak said. “To me, he’s spoken, but he’s someone who doesn’t like talking too much during his innings because he feels that that changes his mindset, and he takes the wrong decision. That’s only when he’s batting.”
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
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