Hemang Badan has advised Gautam Gambhir to advise India vice-captain Rishabh Pant to put his leadership role aside and also to focus only on batting. This advice is especially deserving of consideration given the stature of Pant in the upcoming India vs England Test series. Pant, along with India new captain Shubman Gill, is one of the young crop of leaders in Indian cricket after the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Although Pant has already proven to be a match-winner in Test cricket, his recent form could have been better. His hundred against the LSG during the final IPL 2022 match was the only standout game, otherwise, below par.

Hemang Badan’s Statement

“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 the bat at times when the second new ball is due,” Hemang Badani told HT.

“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,” Badani told Hindustan Times in an exclusive chat.

“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 it becomes easier for the bowler to try and pick wickets.