Rishabh Pant is a batter who England fear: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar feels that the Indian vice-captain and Rishabh Pant, should get the license to play in his own way, no matter what, in the remaining two Tests of the ongoing England tour.

Interestingly, India is trailing the five-match Test series by 1-2, with them starting off the Leeds Test with a five-wicket defeat. However, they made a strong comeback with a 336-run win in the second Test in Birmingham to level the series. Nevertheless, they suffered a 22-run narrow defeat at Lord’s to trail the series by 1-2.

Speaking on Star Sports, Manjrekar felt that Pant deserves to get his own license to go with an aggressive approach, which suits him perfectly well in overseas conditions. Notably, Pant is the second-leading run-scorer of the ongoing England series.

"Rishabh Pant will play in his way no matter what the situation is. He should get that license because he deserves it. The batting unit has to function well. Jaiswal must think a bit about how he got out. He should make use of his form. Pant, I feel, is a big player at No.5. He is a batter who England fear," Sanjay Manjrekar said on Star Sports.

Moreover, Manjrekar asserted that despite Gill’s failures in the Lord’s Test, the Indian batting line-up looked exceptional, which was the biggest takeaway moving into the Manchester Test, scheduled to start on Wednesday, July 23.

"Shubman Gill's role is important. But India should also look that there was no contribution from Gill in the batting at Lord's and despite that the batting line-up was challenging. That is a good takeaway that we are not completely dependent on Gill," he added.

While Gill is leading the run-scoring charts in the ongoing series with 607 runs from six innings, Pant has amassed 425 runs to emerge at the second spot.

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