Rishabh Pant scored just 255 runs in the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy and did not even average 30 in the series. He hit just 24 fours and 6 sixes in the entire series, which India lost 1-3.
One of the many reasons why India lost the series was Pant's poor returns with the bat. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket, Pant is among the senior batters in the side along with KL Rahul.
Before the Test series against England, Rishabh Pant was announced as vice-captain with Shubman Gill being named India's full-time Test skipper. The series started with a loss for India at Headingley, but Pant flourished, scoring a century in each innings.
Also Read: India vs England: Shubman Gill Gets Captaincy Backing from Prasidh Krishna Ahead of 2nd Test
Rishabh Pant Has So Much Reserve: Former India S&C Coach Sohum Desai
According to a Times of India report, Rishabh Pant was hard on himself after India lost the Test series against Australia, which denied them a place in the WTC 2025 final. He went into his shell as he uninstalled WhatsApp from his phone and even switched his phone off. He used the phone only when he needed to contact someone. Pant did not even play any of the ICC Champions Trophy matches for India with Rahul keeping in all the games.
Meanwhile, later India's former strength and conditioning coach, Sohum Desai, revealed that Pant put himself through a punishing routine to improve his fitness. He said how the southpaw did the hard yards despite warming the bench throughout the tournament.
“He did the most intense sessions day in and day out. He dragged me into the gym whenever he was free. He didn't care about fatigue or work-loaded programmes. All he said was he needed to keep working on himself. On the day of the final, he came to me with some kind of guilt in his mind and asked if he could take the day off. I said it was high time that he did,” Desai told Times of India.
"Pant has so much reserve that he will be fine for at least a year without having to do anything extraordinary. That's why you see him moving around so well despite scoring two hundreds and keeping wickets for so long in the Headingley Test" Desai added further.
Also Read: Positive Signs for India as Jasprit Bumrah Hits the Nets Ahead of the 2nd Test
Pant Leading Run-Scoring Charts With Twin Tons At Headingley
India lost the Test match despite Pant's twin tons. He will be key for India going forward in the Test match. He is currently topping the run-scoring charts with 252 runs after the first Test.
Also Read: ENG vs IND: Yashasvi Jaiswal Set to Break Sunil Gavaskar’s 49-Year-Old Record
