No One Will Tell Rishabh Pant To Tone Down His Aggression, But Will Talk To Him About Timing Of His Shots: Rahul Dravid

Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid has said that while no one in the setup will ask Rishabh Pant to not be an aggressive player, but he will talk to the young keeper-batter about the timing of his shots, after being criticized for getting out for a duck in the second innings of the second Test between India and South Africa at Johannesburg.

Rishabh Pant has managed just 8, 34, and 17 in the first two Tests of this series, and much was expected of him as India lost some wickets trying to set a huge target for South Africa at the Wanderers. Hanuma Vihari was looking for someone to stay with him and make runs, but after being rattled by a Kagiso Rabada snorter, Pant decide to charge him the next delivery and edged it to keeper Kyle Verreynne, getting out for a duck in three balls.

He was universally criticized with the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Gautam Gambhir saying that time has come for Rahul Dravid and other coaching staff members to ask Rishabh Pant to show patience. Though they acknowledged that this was the same approach that won India the Gabba Test and also against England at home, this high-risk and high reward game of Pant needs to be controlled a bit.

We Will Have A Level Of Conversations With Him About Choosing The Timing To Be Aggressive: Rahul Dravid On Rishabh Pant

India lost the second Test to South Africa by 7 wickets and the series is now leveled 1-1 with the third Test to be played in Newlands, Cape Town from January 11 onwards. And Team India head coach Rahul Dravid on Thursday admitted that there is a need to have conversations with wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant regarding his shot selection.

“In the sense that, we know Rishabh is a positive player and he plays in a particular manner which has gotten him success. But yeah, of course, there are times, we will have a level of conversations with him around, it is just about the timing of that shot you know. No one is going to tell Rishabh not to be a positive or aggressive player. Sometimes it is about choosing the timing to do that,” said Dravid while replying to an ANI query.

“When you have just come in, giving yourself some more time would be more advisable. We know what we are getting with Rishabh, he is a very positive player, he is someone who can change the course of the game for us, so we won’t take that away from him and ask him to become something very different. It is about figuring out when is the right time to attack. He is learning, he plays in a particular way but he will keep learning,” he added.

India will have a final chance to create history and win their first Test series in South Africa at Cape Town and everyone will hope that Rishabh Pant plays a huge role in that victory.

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