Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has claimed that Rishabh Pant is yet to completely understand the white-ball game. His remarks come in the backdrop of the southpaw’s miserable form in IPL 2025. Pant has failed to justify his hefty Rs 27 crore price tag and has only managed to 128 runs in 10 matches.
Pant warned about his white-ball game
Speaking to Star Sports, Bangar noted that Pant had gotten out multiple times while trying to play a shot behind the wicket.
“We have to recognise that he’s still yet to totally understand the white-ball game – both formats, 50-over cricket as well as T20 cricket. A fabulous Test match batter, make no mistake about it, but here in this particular season, what I noticed is that he got out a number of times looking to play shots behind the wicket,” Bangar said.
The ex-India batting coach pointed out that most of the southpaw’s run in his best innings had come from cover drives, stepping down the track or going over mid-wicket or square. He reckoned that Pant was confused by attempting to reverse sweeps or such shots, noting that he had forgotten what was his best game.
Play down the ground
Bangar further said that attempting to play down the ground more will allow other areas to be opened up for Pant. However, he warned that aiming to play only shots behind the wicket would lead to the southpaw being in a position of being too late to play whatever is in front of him.
“If you do look to score down the ground a lot of times, then all those other areas open up. But if you’re only looking to score behind, then whatever is in front of you, you sort of are very much late and not in a great position to play,” the former India batter concluded.
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