Pants advised “show fight”, not “swing on every ball in England”

Ex-India cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly has advised Test vice-captain Rishabh Pant to exercise caution in the upcoming series against England. The southpaw was widely criticised for his choice of shots in the last Test series against Australia. Ahead of the five-match Test series, Ganguly expressed disapproval over the approach that Pant had displayed in Australia and wants him to make corrections in England.

Ganguly’s advice for Pant

In an interview with RevSportz, Ganguly claimed that he did not like what he saw of Pant in Australia, pointing out that he played to many shots. The former Indian captain advised the southpaw to fight and grind down instead of swinging at every single delivery. He admitted that while Rishabh was a stroke-maker, he will have to adapt and play accordingly in order to prolong his innings out in the middle.

“I did not like what I saw of him in Australia,” he told me with a nod of the head that expressed displeasure. “Too many shots. Just too many shots. He was just swinging at every ball, and that’s not how you bat in conditions where the ball was moving around a bit. He needs to show fight,” Ganguly said.

In the previous Test season, Pant managed to score just 677 runs in 10 matches, including one century and four half-centuries. In the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia, which happened to be the only overseas Test series in the previous calendar year, he only scored 255 runs from 10 innings, including one fifty. He was caught out 8 out of 10 innings, majority of them while attempting rash shots. So much so that it led Sunil Gavaskar to deliver his infamous “stupid stupid stupid” rant.

After a poor IPL 2025 season, Pant now has to redeem himself in the series against England. Especially since he has been made India’s vice-captain. Besides, competition is not too far away as India’s back-up keeper Dhruv Jurel has been quite consistent.