Brad Hogg suggests new role for Rishabh Pant in IPL 2023: “Hopefully Ricky Ponting gets him to open”
Former Australian left-arm spinner Brad Hogg has suggested that the Delhi Capitals (DC) would do well to open the innings with Rishabh Pant in IPL 2023. The 51-year-old opined that the explosive left-handed batter could play a similar role for India in white-ball cricket.
While Pant has tasted amazing success in Test cricket, he has failed to replicate the same in limited-overs formats for India. The 25-year-old has batted in various positions but hasn’t been able to cement his place.
In a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, Hogg opened up about the disparity in Pant’s red-ball and white-ball fortunes. Backing the southpaw to come good in the upcoming IPL, he stated:
“The only thing that I want to see with Rishabh Pant right now is improvement in white-ball formats. When the field is spread, he doesn’t seem to have much success as he has in Test cricket.
"He’s up there at the IPL with Ricky Ponting. I think we’ll see a big IPL from Rishabh Pant this year. He’ll attack the game differently and he’ll have a different role. Hopefully Ricky Ponting gets him to open rather than (sending him) down the list.”
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Urging the Indian team management to also utilize his services as an opener in limited-overs cricket, he added:
“With the powerplay, with only two fielders out, those six overs is where he can really do some damage in T20 cricket. It’s the same in the 50-over game. Try and get him to open, where he can blast away in those first 10 overs with only two out. In the next 30 overs, you can only have four out. There's still one or two places in the outfield where he can attack.”
Pant has so far featured in 30 ODIs and 66 T20Is, scoring 865 and 987 runs, respectively.
“That cameo from Pant turned the Test match” - Hogg
Asked about the importance of Pant in India’s Test team, Hogg admitted that he is a very dangerous batter in the format.
Referring to his cameo in the first innings of the Chattogram Test against Bangladesh, Hogg said:
“He’s very dangerous in Test cricket. He goes after the bowling. He scored at a strike rate of over 100 and he put the pressure back on Bangladesh bowlers. That cameo from Pant turned the Test match around in India’s favor. It made it easier for Shreyas Iyer.”
The keeper-batter scored 46 off 45 in India’s first innings, adding 64 for the fourth wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara after the visitors lost three wickets for 48 runs.
While discussing Pant’s aggressive batting in Tests, Hogg suggested that opponents could try and stifle him with T20-type field placements. He elaborated:
“When you are bowling to him in Test cricket, instead of just having a Test field, it might be worth going straight to a T20 field - where you have five players out, four in the ring and see if he goes after the bowling straightaway like that.”
Pant has an impressive record in Test cricket, having slammed 2169 runs, including five hundreds, in 32 matches at an average of 43.38.