Rishabh Pant Doesn’t Have Technique To Succeed In English Conditions, Reckons Salman Butt

Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt reckoned that Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant won’t achieve success in England in the Test because of his batting approach.

India lost to England in the third Test by an innings and 76 runs in Leeds after they were bowled out for 278 in the second innings. Once Cheteshwar Pujara and skipper Virat Kohli departed in the early part of the day, India faltered against the England bowlers as their innings was folded inside the first session.

Rishabh Pant under extreme pressure for his technique

Pant is under a dilemma whether he should play his attacking game to boost India’s score or move back to his defensive mode in order to save his wicket. The wicket-keeper could manage only one run in the second innings as Ollie Robinson angled the ball across to force the batsman to push the ball, which he eventually nicked to Craig Overton at third slip.

Rishabh Pant has a lot of shots but his defensive mechanism is not strong enough for Test cricket: Salman Butt

Salman Butt thinks Pant needs to work on his defensive technique as a lot of his shots are not appropriate in Test cricket and especially in England.

“Rishabh Pant doesn’t have the technique to succeed in English conditions. He cannot just walk down the track to bowlers. He can survive for a while like this or may play one or two good knocks. But, Rishabh Pant cannot become a successful Test batsman playing this way. He needs to develop some patience and also work on his defensive technique,” Butt said on his YouTube channel. 

“Rishabh Pant has a lot of shots but his defensive mechanism is not strong enough for Test cricket, especially in such conditions. In India, he can taste success, and Australia as well, because the ball doesn’t swing a lot. But wherever the ball swings or seams, Rishabh Pant will find it very difficult to tackle the challenges with the kind of technique he currently possesses,” he added.

Pant has scored only 87 runs from five innings at an average of 17.4 in the current series so far.

Also Read: India Might Start Thinking To Promote Ravindra Jadeja And Demote Rishabh Pant, Says Aakash Chopra