Pravin Amre Feels Under-Fire Rishabh Pant needs IPL Lesson To Rediscover His Touch

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has endured a nightmare in the last few months of international cricket. Even In Test cricket, Pant could not produce runs post the series against Australia. But his form with both bat and gloves in white-ball cricket is exceptionally worrisome. However, Pravin Amre believes that how he turned the tables around in the Indian Premier League of 2019 would help him regain his explosive touch.

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Pravin Amre, who is one of the prominent figures in the coaching world, was the assistant coach of Delhi Capitals in the last season. The 51-year old batsman has also had coaching stints with the Pune Warriors, India’s U19 side, and the Mumbai Cricket team. The youngster was going through a similar phase last year, having fumbled behind the stumps in the series against Australia and undergoing a woeful series with the bat.

However, he turned around his form by emerging as Delhi’s second-highest run-getter in the IPL 2019 with 488 runs. Amre described how head coach Ricky Ponting taught him to handle his mindset and not give in to pressure.

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“He was coming after poor scores. It was mainly the way chief coach Ricky Ponting handled him and gave him the space to be himself,” said former India batsman Pravin Amre, who was Delhi Capitals’ assistant coach last season. “It is also about not trying too hard; we tried to ensure he didn’t fall into the trap by coming under pressure. We tried to keep it simple, break the game into small parts.” Amre said as quoted by Hindustan Times

The former India batsman further said that like any other Indian player timing is the key to Pant’s gameplan. However, he seems to lack clarity. Pravin Amre commended his ability to tee off in the death and the powerplay overs that makes him the X-factor.

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“He is like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, a great timer of the ball. He has to focus on getting it right. He seems to be confused how he should be going about it, whether to play the waiting game or his natural attacking game.”

“Most batsmen inflict maximum damage during the powerplay and death overs. Pant is equally devastating in the middle-overs, and that’s what makes him so special,” he added.

Throughout the series in India against Bangladesh, twitter expressed no mercy for him. Having got two DRS calls wrong in the entire series and blunders behind the stumps have added cries for MS Dhoni to return to the side. Pant has also been a liability with the bat in the series, managing only 33 runs in three innings. With India unveiling solutions to the puzzles ahead of the T20 World Cup, the management would be hoping that Pant restores his form soon.