Pant’s strike rotation intention, flat border problem has emerged

Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has questioned Rishabh Pant’s intent when it comes to strike rotation. His remarks come after the LSG captain’s slow-paced knock in the game against CSK on Monday. Apart from strike rotation, Jaffer also pointed out Pant’s weakness in terms of targeting the straight boundary.

Pant’s weakness gets called out

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Jaffer claimed that Pant looked like he was stuck at times, adding that he needs to focus on rotating the strike. He drew a parallel between the LSG skipper and Virat Kohli, noting how the latter managed to get off strike.

“I don’t know whether he looks to do that. 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,” Jaffer said.

Pant’s 63-run knock off 49 deliveries in the game against CSK was studded with 21 dot deliveries. While he did seem to start off aggresively, the southpaw slowed down in the middle, only to try and attempt a rash shot towards the end to be dismissed.

The straight problem

Another issue that Jaffer flagged about Pant was his inability to target the straight boundaries. He noted that Pant only attempted to play towards the leg side or the reverse scoop, areas where usually fielders are stacked up.

“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 beginning of the inning, he always wanted to go to the leg side or the opposite bucket he played, but that was the only thingJaff Jaffer added.