Rishabh Pant Can Be Successful As An Opener In Limited Overs Cricket: Sunil Gavaskar

Rishabh Pant extended his hot streak against England in the recently finished fifth Test, striking a century and a half-century. Pant had a pretty ordinary run with the bat in the last five-match T20I series against South Africa, as well as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 before that. Pant struck his sixth Test century, slamming 146 runs in 111 balls in a remarkable counter-attack that handed India the lead after three days. In the second inning, he scored 57 runs. Pant’s career Test total now stands at 2123 runs scored at an average of 43.32.

This is in stark contrast to Pant’s performance in white-ball cricket, where he has only 715 runs at an average of 32.50 in ODIs and 741 runs at an average of 23.15 and a strike rate of 123.91 in T20Is. In white-ball cricket, he has yet to score a century.

Rishabh Pant Will Do Well As An Opener Than As A Finisher In Limited Overs: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary batsman, believes that India might benefit from sending Pant in as an opener in white-ball cricket, rather than the finisher role that he has been assigned so far in his career.

“Not a bad option at all. Look at what Adam Gilchrist did for Australia in white-ball cricket. He used to bat at No.6 or 7 in Test cricket but while opening in white-ball cricket he was destructive. Maybe someone like Rishabh Pant can be equally destructive, he will get that many more overs to play,” Gavaskar said on Sports Today.

“We have been talking about him as a finisher but then he comes in there, starts slamming the ball and straight away gets out. Here, he will have the awareness that he doesn’t have to go bang bang from the first ball. He will have a few deliveries to get used to the pace and movement. In England, there will be a little more movement even with the white ball than anywhere else. That can actually work in India’s favour,” he said.

Pant batted at the top of the order for the India U19 side in the 2016 world cup.

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