Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin hailed wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant’s defensive technique after the conclusion of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Pant endured an inconsistent series with the bat, scoring only 255 runs at an average of 28.33.
The southpaw scored just one half-century in nine innings despite getting off to solid starts on several occasions. However, Pant showed his versatility in the final Test in Sydney with 98-ball 40 and 33-ball 61 in the first and second innings, respectively, on an extremely challenging wicket.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin hailed Pant’s defensive skills and felt his first-innings 40 had unfairly slipped under the radar amid his second-innings onslaught.
“We have to realize that Rishabh Pant rarely comes out playing defence. He has one of the best defenses in world cricket. Defense has become a challenge, he has the best soft-arm defence. I have bowled with him a lot in the nets, he has not out, no edge, no LBW, he has the best defense I have tried to say One view of Rishabh was that he plays a lot of shots, he has to fight it in cricket,” he said.
Ashwin added:
“I always grew up hearing that you battle it out. In Sydney, he played two different knocks in a single game. He got hit everywhere and scored 40, it will be Rishabh Pant’s least talked about innings. It’s very unfair in the second innings, he scored a big fifty, winning the high praise for the second strike.”
Ashwin has played with Pant in Team India for several years and recently retired midway through the Australian series.
Pant, meanwhile, boasts impressive Test numbers of nearly 3,000 runs at an average of over 42 in 43 outings.
“Rishabh Pant is yet to reach his full potential” – Ravichandran Ashwin
![Padd spurned many aggressive shooting starts against Australia [Source: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2025/01/a6009-17364483593498-1920.jpg)
Ravichandran Ashwin feels that Rishabh Pant is yet to reach his full potential with the bat. He urged the wicketkeeper-batter to work to find the ideal balance between defense and attack.
Despite his many heroics in the past, Padd has come under heavy criticism for his untimely dismissals while playing blistering shots during the Australian series.
“We need to tell him properly what to do if he has to bowl consistently or with intent. He hasn’t scored many runs but he hasn’t bowled like someone without runs. He has a lot of time Rishabh Pant is yet to realize his potential,” said Ashwin.
He concluded:
“He’s got all the shots—reverse sweep, slog sweep, everything—but the problem is, all of those shots are high-risk shots. With his defense, he’s definitely going to score every game if he faces 200 balls. The thing is to find This middle game, if he puts it all together, will score 100 runs in every game.
Pant played a huge role in India’s back-to-back Test series wins in Australia in 2018/19 and 2020/21.
However, his subpar presence in the recent series meant India suffered a 1-3 defeat to hand the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia.
Edited by Arshit Garg