Former India player Ravichandran Ashwin praised wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant’s defensive technique after the conclusion of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Pant endured an inconsistent series with the bat, scoring just 255 runs at an average of 28.33.
The left-hander scored just one half-century in nine innings despite making strong starts on several occasions. Again, Panting showed his versatility in the final Test in Sydney with a 98-ball 40 and a 33-ball 61 in the first and second innings, respectively, on an extremely difficult batting wicket.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin praised Pant’s defensive skills and felt that his first-innings 40 had unfairly gone unnoticed amid his second-innings assault.
“We have to realize that Rishabh Pant rarely plays defense. He has one of the best defenses in world cricket. Defense has become a difficult aspect, he has the best defense with a soft hand. I have played against him a lot in the nets, he is not out, he has no edge, he has no LBW, he has the best defense I tried to tell him One opinion about Rishabh was that. he plays a lot of shots, he has to. to fight in Test cricket,” he said.
Ashwin added:
“I always grew up hearing that you have to fight. In Sydney he played two different knocks in one match. He was hit everywhere and scored a 40, it will be Rishabh Pant’s least talked about innings. It’s very unfair. In the second innings, he scored a superb fifty, which earned him lots of praise. Everyone forgot that first innings and praised him for the second innings.
Ashwin played with Pant in the Indian team for several years and recently retired midway through the Australia series.
Meanwhile, Pant posts impressive Test figures with nearly 3,000 runs averaging over 42 in 43 outings.
“Rishabh Pant is yet to realize his full potential” – Ravichandran Ashwin
![Pant spoiled several starts with rash shots against Australia [Source: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2025/01/a6009-17364483593498-1920.jpg)
Ravichandran Ashwin believes Rishabh Pant is yet to realize his full potential with the bat. He called on the keeper-batsman to work on finding the ideal balance between defense and attack.
Despite his many heroic efforts in the past, Pant was heavily criticized for his ill-timed dismissals while playing rash shots during the Australia series.
“We have to tell him properly what to do if he has to hit solidly or with intent. He didn’t score a lot of runs, but he didn’t play like someone without runs. He has a lot of time in his hands. Rishabh Pant is yet to realize his full potential,” Ashwin said.
He concluded:
“He has all the shots – reverse sweep, high sweep, everything – but the problem is that all these shots are high-risk shots. With his defense, he will surely score points in every game if he faces 200 balls The goal is to find this middle of the game. If he combines all of this, he will score 100 points in every game.
Pant played a major role in India back-to-back Test series wins in Australia in 2018/19 and 2020/21.
However, its poor results in the recent series meant that India suffered a 1-3 defeat to hand over the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia.
Edited by Arshit Garg
