Former India captain Sourav Ganguly names Rishabh Pant as the next-best red-ball batter after stalwart Virat Kohli and predicts him to have a “huge impact” in the Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Perth on Friday. In just a couple of days, India will begin its quest to keep its hopes of featuring in the World Test Championship (WTC) final alive for the third successive time. With some of the stalwarts finding their rich vein of form, all eyes will fall on the southpaw, who holds an impeccable record against the WTC defending champions.
Pant’s aggression, which comes with a fair amount of risks, has allowed him to thrive, especially against Australia. His fearlessness in 2021, on the final day of the fourth Test, led in Brisbane to the famous “Toota Hai Gabba Ka Ghamand.”
Ganguly, who has closely worked with Pant during their time in Delhi Capitals in IPL, believes that the “generational talent” will have his say during the five Tests.
“His special ability. He still needs to evolve and figure out his game in white-ball cricket. But in red ball, he is just fantastic. Look at the innings he has played in England, Australia and South Africa, and you will know, he is a generational talent in red-ball cricket. He is India’s next-best red-ball batter after Kohli and could have a huge impact in the series,” Ganguly said while speaking to Revsportz.
Pant showed his knack for scoring runs in the recent Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand earlier this year. While displaying his terrific form, Pant racked up 422 runs from five matches at an average of 46.88 and a strike rate of 86.47.
The best of Pant came when India were down on the ground during the opening Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. He opened his arms and raised hopes with a scintillating 99, with Sarfaraz Khan providing the perfect company on the other end.
India’s squad for Border-Gavaskar Series: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.
Australia squad for the first Test: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.
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