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As Rishabh Pant showed signs of a return to form with his 49-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings, former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer said that the Lucknow Super Giants captain should also focus on improving strike rotation.
Jaffer highlighted Pant's tendency to get stuck and then resort to big shots. He suggested that Pant needs to improve his strike rotation skills while emphasising Kohli's mastery in this area. "I don't know whether he looks to do that [rotate strike]; Kohli is a master at that. He gets off strike so nicely, as he can play all around. But Pant sometimes does get stuck, and that's the issue. Then he goes for that big shot. I just feel he needs to get better at rotating strike as well," said Wasim Jaffer as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. He also pointed out that Pant rarely hits straight, preferring to play shots towards the leg side. He noted that Pant's only straight six came towards the end of the innings and highlighted the wicket-keeper batsman's tendency to favour shots towards the leg side. "I feel he never looks to hit straight, he always looks to go towards the leg side, towards square leg, cow corner. He hit one straight six right towards the end [against CSK]. Otherwise, at the start of the innings, he was always looking to go towards the leg side, or that reverse scoop that he played, but that was the only thing," he added. Pant walked in at No. 4, after LSG had lost two early wickets, and moved to 27 off just 16 balls. But he slowed down considerably after that and was on 38 off 38 at one point. He struggled to score against CSK bowler Noor Ahmad, where he faced his 15 balls, and 10 of those were dots. Pant found his touch against the pace-on options of Matheesha Pathirana and Khaleel to turn his innings around. He raced to a 42-ball fifty courtesy of two sixes and then looked for a big finish but fell to Pathirana in the final over. (ANI)
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