‘I would take him aside and tell him…’ - R Ashwin’s advice to Gautam Gambhir to deal with Rishabh Pant

The star India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was one of the star performers with the bat for India in the first Test of the five-match series. He smashed two consecutive centuries in both innings of the game at Headingley in Leeds. The star Southpaw joined the elite list, which includes the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli achieve the milestone of twin centuries in a Test match.

Meanwhile, the former Indian off-spin great Ravichandran Ashwin feels that it is the responsibility of Rishabh Pant to look at the fact that the lower order is not contributing as expected, which makes his wicket very crucial for Team India in the tough phases during the game.

Rishabh had a fantastic game – R Ashwin

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“Rishabh Pant scored twin hundreds; he joins an elite list of batters. Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli are all in the list, and Rishabh Pant has now joined them. Rishabh Pant now has the highest number of centuries as an Indian wicketkeeper-batter,” said Ashwin in a video on his channel.

“Rishabh had a fantastic game, but I would like to repeat that he has a great defence. There is not even one shot in the book that he cannot play,” he added later.

Furthermore, the former World Cup-winning spinner also advised India’s current head coach, Gautam Gambhir, to have a separate conversation with Rishabh Pant regarding the latter’s roles and responsibilities.

“I sometimes feel if I was Gautam Gambhir, I would take him aside and tell him, 'you played exceptionally well and I would have loved to be the batter with the ability that you have' but can I request you to make a double hundred next time when you are batting at 130 because you know the lower-order cannot contribute much. That would be the only request I would make of Rishabh. What a talented player,” he said.