Sourav Ganguly lauds Rishabh Pant for his match winning abilities
Rishabh Pant is in tremendous form in the purest format of the game and has hammered the ball like anything in the four-match Test series against Australia and England. Pant didn’t have a great 2020 on the professional front as he struggled to score runs in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Delhi Capitals.
This was followed by the youngster getting excluded from the limited-overs squad against Australia and not finding a place in the playing XI of the first Test in Adelaide. However, the batsman returned to the side in the second Test match against Australia at MCG and since then there has been no looking back.
The third Test in Sydney saw Pant smashing a stunning 97 to help India draw the match. This was followed by the keeper producing another match-defining knock in Brisbane to take India home in the four-match series by 2-1.
Sourav Ganguly lauds Rishabh Pant
Rishabh continued his brilliant form during the England tour too as he emerged as the third-highest run-getter along with scoring his first Test century in India to help them win the four-match Test series against England by 3-1. Pant greatly impressed former Indian captain and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly with his match-defining knocks as the latter compared Pant to match-winners like Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, and Yuvraj Singh.
“I have seen Pant very closely and I believe in match-winners. When they get going on their day, they single-handedly can win matches. Rishabh Pant is such a player. I have also said this in the past, had he stayed at the crease for 5 or 6 overs, India could have won the Sydney Test. He is a game-changer. I like match-winners. In my time, we had Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni”.
“Look at the way he played against England. India was 146 for 6 (4th Test in Ahmedabad). The match could have gone anyway. He turned it around with his knock. Look at his game sense. The second new ball came in. His counterattack against Anderson was brilliant,” Ganguly told India Today
