Rishabh Pant is playing smart and intelligent cricket: Sunil Gavaskar

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has finally found his rhythm at the international circuit. The youngster performed exceptionally well in the last three games of the four-match Test series against Australia and played a vital role in helping India script history and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by 2-1.

Pant carried his sublime form in the England tour of India too as he emerged as the third-highest run-getter after Joe Root and Rohit Sharma in the four-match Test series. The 23-year-old followed the same by making a memorable comeback in the white-ball leg and helping India win the five-match T20I series and three-match ODI series against the same opponents by 3-2 and 2-1 respectively.

Rishabh featured in just two matches of the ODI series as he was forced to sit out in the first match after the management selected KL Rahul as the first-choice keeper. However, an injury to Shreyas Iyer meant that Pant was included in the last two games and he made sure to leave his impact with two spectacular innings with the willow.

The second ODI saw the Delhi stalwart scoring a stunning 77 runs off just 40 deliveries, though the knock came in a losing cause as the hosts lost the game by six wickets. The left-hander seemed unstoppable in the series-decider as after a collapse of the top-order he scored a scintillating 78 runs off 62 balls at a strike rate of 125.81 to help India post a massive total of 329 on the board and win the game by seven runs.

Sunil Gavaskar lauds Rishabh Pant

In the meantime, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar seemed impressed with the 23-year-old’s style of batting, especially after his knock in the last ODI against England. Gavaskar lauded Pant for not throwing away his wicket and carefully building his innings.

“Very, very impressed. He is carrying on the good form he has been in the past three-four months. Most of all, he is playing smart and intelligent cricket. He is not trying to slog every ball,” said Gavaskar while speaking on Star Sports.

“He is waiting for the right ball to come when the ball is tossed up and within his range, that’s when he is playing the big shot. Otherwise, look at some of the other shots he has played. He has used the bottom hand to a good effect. He knows exactly where the fielders are. Therefore, he is making sure he is hitting the ball in vacant spaces,” Gavaskar added.