Rishabh Pant should trust his defense
Rishabh Pant, the Test cricketer, is still early in his career. Though it doesn't feel that way because of the impact he has had on the test team thus far. He is still learning about his game and trying to make improvements to his technique. The aggressiveness with which he plays the red ball game makes him a unique draw and sets him apart from the rest. But sometimes, his shot selection can be baffling, to say the least.
The ongoing five-match test series against England has brought out the impatient side of Rishabh Pant. The 23-year-old has been gifting his wickets by playing shots he shouldn't be playing.
But in the third innings of the fourth test at The Oval, Pant scored a half-century, restraining himself from playing those rash shots that got him out in the first three tests.
The difference was that he trusted his defensive game more. He didn't flirt with deliveries outside off and stopped himself from playing shots on the up early in his innings. Pant understood the phase of play at the time. He saw the importance of sticking around with an in-form Shardul Thakur rather than going ballistic and risking getting out.
If there's anything that the 23-year-old can take away from that innings, it's that aggressiveness is good, but only when it's calculated. There is much more to Rishabh Pant than hitting fours and sixes. He's a proper batsman who can play long innings' but for that to happen consistently, he has to start trusting his defense. Pant has to find ways, other than just counterattacking, to see his team through tough periods.
The day Rishabh Pant starts using his defensive game a bit more, he will become a more reliable batsman in the red ball game.
Why is it important for Rishabh Pant to become more reliable?
Over the last year or so, India's middle order hasn't been consistent. Whenever the openers, along with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, have failed to perform, India have seen the team get bundled out for embarrassing scores.
If Rishabh Pant develops a way of hanging around with the lower middle order and the tail, there will be less and less of these sudden collapses. The only way for him to do that is trust his defensive shots and add a bit of cool to his fiery way of playing cricket.