"Challenged Pant to bat according to situation," says Dravid
India A coach Rahul Dravid is all praise for rising batsman Rishabh Pant after he put on a fighting performance in the one-off unofficial Test against England Lions. Speaking to bcci.tv in an interview, Dravid remarked how Pant has grown from a prodigy into an excellent prospect for India in the coming future.
He said, "On this trip, we challenged him a lot to bat according to the situation. He got a critical 64* in the one-day final when he was the last recognized batsman and also against West Indies A when he put on a 100-run partnership with Jayant Yadav."
Another aspect of Pant's developing game that impressed Dravid was his ability to break out of the one-dimensional mold attacking batsmen generally tend to get into in the course of their careers.
He commented, "He showed that he could bat differently. He has the temperament and skills to bat differently. He is always going to be an attacking player but reading of the situation when you are playing red ball cricket is required.
"We are glad he has been picked in the national team and I hope he takes this maturity into the national team and hopefully builds from thereon. "
Pant has had a whirlwind 2018 so far. While the potential had been discovered previously, nobody was sure as to what extent he would harness it to. This year, he has gone from strength to strength, first proving his ability to churn runs with impressive consistency as he did in the IPL, and then later showing his skill in the long form of the game, on the India A tour of England.
Deserving of it, he has been named in India's squad to take on England in the Test series starting on August 1. The selection is quite a radical one, given that Pant bats very differently from the rest of the Indian line-up, so it is not entirely clear yet as to what role, if any, he plays in the side.
India last won a Test series in England in 2007 and since then have lost seven of their nine Test matches there, the defeats often being marked by abject batting against the probing outswing of the English bowlers and the bowlers' inability to harness the excess swing provided by the extra lacquer on the Duke ball to use it to their advantage.
Pant's unorthodox approach, combined with his high confidence at the moment can be the X-factor for India and help them to break out of this funk of theirs, another reason for his inclusion is his skilled approach to playing both the new and the old ball.