Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann heaped praises on Rishabh Pant’s match-winning ability and fearless batting. He feels Pant is a goldmine and is ready to be unearthed.
Rishabh Pant has been the talk of the town since playing two vital knocks in India’s historic Test series win in Australia earlier this year. Pant scored quickfire 97 runs in Sydney to take India to the verge of winning. Later on, he played more carefully in Brisbane and scored unbeaten 89 and took India to a historic Test series win.
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However, last week, he was in the boil of things after playing a rash shot on the last day of the World Test Championship Final against New Zealand. India’s batting lineup was struggling on the sixth day after losing Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara early in the day. Despite playing carefully, Pant opted to play a rash shot and conceded his wicket. India, eventually, lost the game by eight wickets.
Cricket experts like Sunil Gavaskar, Aakash Chopra and Irfan Pathan criticized Pant for not showing enough responsibility at that crucial juncture. However, Graeme Swann feels otherwise and believe Pant is ready to win India matches.
“He is a match-winner. All I want to say to cricket fans in India – don’t fix what isn’t broken. You have some absolute goldmine ready to be unearthed and used well for 10 years. Don’t change Rishabh Pant. Let him fail. Let him be. He is absolutely worth it,” Swann told SportsKeeda.
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Swann cited Pant’s match-winning contribution against Australia and England. He feels it was Pant’s contribution that helped India reaching to the WTC Final.
“India have got an absolute superstar in Rishabh Pant going in at 6 or 7. Just go back one Test match in India’s history. That magnificent century he scored against England (in Ahmedabad) that won them that series. Never forget that,” the former off-spinner added.
“It was a counter-attacking innings, played against the grind, playing against the spin a lot of times. It was a brilliant hundred. Had he got in there and ‘played the situation’ and tried to block it, India would not have won that game. It is as simple as that.”
India will next play England in the five-match Test series, which will start from August 4 in Nottingham.
