Batting great Sunil Gavaskar feels that Rishabh Pant has learned from his mistakes and batted with responsibility against England in the third ODI match at Old Trafford, Manchester. Pant smashed his maiden ODI century and remained unbeaten on 125 to help India clinch the three-match series 2-1.
The southpaw shared a 133-run stand with Hardik Pandya to revive India’s chase when England were in the driver’s seat. Before the third ODI, several questions were raised on Pant’s batting credentials in white-ball formats after his underwhelming shows in T20I matches against South Africa and England.
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Gavaskar said that Pant paced his innings well and didn’t repeat the same mistakes which he committed against South Africa.
“Rishabh Pant seems to have learned from his mistakes against South Africa. He chased balls outside off stump to slog them over the leg side then, but the way he batted with responsibility yesterday shows how well he paced his innings,” Gavaskar said on Sports So.
“The way he smashed a flurry of boundaries towards the end showed that he is someone who can absorb pressure and then attack,” he added.
Pant has played several crucial knocks in Test cricket so far and Gavaskar feels that the southpaw might have found the right template to play white-ball cricket too.
“We will need to wait and see (whether Pant is able to replicate this form in T20Is). He might have found the right template to play white ball cricket,” he added.
He further emphasized that batting in T20 and ODI cricket is different and everyone has to be patient with Pant as he will not going to win every match on his own.
“In T20s you have to start playing from third gear and move into fifth gear, so it is very different from ODIs. We need to be patient with Pant and realize that he will win us games when he is set, while sometimes there will be failures.”
“We shouldn’t forget that he made his Test debut just four years ago. He is just 23 [24] and in that age there is a bit of adrenaline rush that tends the batters to play rash shots,” he concluded.
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