Rahul Dravid Believes Pant Needs To Be Smart And Learn With Experiences
Sep 26, 2017 at 2:57 PM
Former Indian skipper and current coach of India A and India U-19 teams Rahul Dravid feels that Rishabh Pant needs to be smarter in reading situations.
The youngster is facing one of the toughest phases in his short career as he managed only one fifty in four innings against South Africa A. He also threw away his wicket while playing for India Red in Duleep Trophy and managed only 72 runs in 3 innings.
“I think it’s a balance,” Dravid said. “It’s recognition of the fact that someone like Rishabh will always be an attacking player. You don’t want to take away his attacking instincts, but you want to inculcate a certain sense of smartness to be able to read situations and recognize situations where the time is hot for you to make it count.
However, Dravid believes with experience; Pant would become a better player and adapt to playing with tailenders.
“I think [in the first four-day game] he got stuck with the tailenders. Again, it is part of his learning experiences and that is the conversation I’ve had with him. When you’re young, you think you have to hit every ball when a tailender is around you. It takes time and experience to learn [to bat] with the tail. That’s what he is learning. It’s not going to happen overnight.”
The India A team are currently hosting New Zealand A in two unofficial four-day test games, and Pant was destructive in the first game as he hit 67 runs off just 41 balls which included nine fours and two sixes.
The 19-year old is considered as a bright prospect for Indian cricket and the potential successor for long-standing MS Dhoni. Dravid is happy with the talent he possesses and the incredible power hitting ability he has. He also revealed that more than the results, what Pant learn from the experiences are far more significant.
“Experiences like these are good for him even if it doesn’t come off. If he goes back and thinks, ‘were there any other options I could have used rather than the ones I took, that may have helped me play better?’ he’s an improved player. These are the chats we have. He’s a talented kid and good at what he does; he has exceptional skill and exceptional ability. He’ll learn with more opportunities and more games. That’s what these matches are about. I’m not too stressed about results. For me, it’s about if they’re learning from different situations.”
MS Dhoni would surely play until 2019 World Cup as he is in good shape and form. Rishabh Pant will need to work out on his all-round game which would make him the right fit for Indian team post the retirement of Dhoni.