“Tu apna game khel” - Ex-Indian cricketer gives a piece of advice to Rishabh Pant ahead of England tour

Former Indian cricketer Hemang Badani, who was the coach of the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals, wants the Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir to have a word with the Indian Test team vice-captain Rishabh Pant to not bother too much about his leadership role and instead focus more on his batting.

Notably, with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announcing retirements almost at the same time from the longest format of the game, the BCCI selection committee has decided to appoint Shubman Gill as the Test captain, with Rishabh Pant being part of the leadership team as his deputy. 

However, it’s important to note that, barring his century in the last league game of the IPL 2025 season, the LSG skipper Pant looked out of touch throughout the season, which could be a bit of a worry for the Indian team going into the England Test series.

"It's important that someone like Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, has a chat with him and speaks to him and says, 'Rishabh tu apna game khel.' Don't think too hard about captaincy, vice captaincy, you're the second in command, none of that. There is a certain way that you've played over the years and that has worked well for you. And I think it will work well for us if he does that again, because he is a batter who comes to bat at times when the second new ball is due," Hemang Badani told Hindustan Times.

"I genuinely hope it doesn't change one bit. I think he is somebody who has found the right balance of attacking stroke-making and defensive stroke-making in this cricket. So I don't see any reason why you should try and change that," he added.

"You want to keep the bowling on the mat, you want to keep them under pressure rather than keep leaving balls and let them settle down into a good line and length. It then becomes easier for the bowler to try and pick wickets,” he concluded.

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