Should Rishabh Pant tone down his aggressive approach when the team needs him the most?
Rishabh Pant's batting in Tests has always been fascinating and perplexing. He's brilliant to watch when he tonks, thwacks, pulls, and smashes the cherry all around, yet ugly when he fails to get going and finds ways to get dismissed.
It was ugly to watch him when he slashed hard at the ball in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand. It was uglier when his bizarre second innings knock came to an end.
Coming into the Tests against England, Pant registered scores of 25, 37, and 22. All of these were starts that add up to 88 runs of which 28 runs had come for boundaries. A healthy start, no doubt, but Pant is yet to learn to carry the bat through the innings.
With skipper Virat Kohli backing the wicket-keeper bat to the hilt to play his positive self, the move is yet to yield fruit. For now it is a double-edged sword.
Rishabh Pant and measured aggression can go a long way
And for good reason. Just imagine if Rishabh Pant had perhaps shepherded the tail after losing Ravindra Jadeja, India wouldn't have had to rely on the tail to bail them out of a crisis situation.
Take nothing away from Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah who played the knock of their lives, but perhaps Pant could have been a tad watchful biding his time. He had a start.
His 22 against the likes of an English attack that looked competitive sans Stuart Broad was proof enough he could hold his own before causing the damage.
India have three more Tests and will be buoyed by their stunning win at Lord's. That's not to say they are all prepped. Their middle-order is still a worry with the big three - Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane going through a phase of inconsistency.
Can Rishabh Pant go a long way with cautious aggression? Maybe. It doesn't hurt to curb his instincts. To expect big runs from the tail is not an option and that would mean Pant being un-Pant like when it comes to dire situations.
Note that none of this is a criticism against a gifted player like Rishabh Pant. He's matured over the years and the reward is being handed a good run with the national side. But maybe a change in the way he approaches his innings will not just do wonders for his career, but will augur well for the team as well.