Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed that Rishabh Pant doesn’t like to bat in the last 30-40 minutes of a day, which is probably why the Shubman Gill-led side chose to send nightwatchman Akash Deep ahead of him at Lord’s on Day 4 of the third Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test.
India went down to 53/3 just before Stumps. With more than 20 overs left in the day’s play, India opting for the nightwatchman instead of a proper batter raised eyebrows. KL Rahul, on the other end, supported him for a while but gave him a strike for the final over of the day, bowled by Ben Stokes.
Stokes set him up brilliantly, bringing in a fielder for the bouncer with a short-leg before slipping in a full one on the stumps that the tailender couldn’t keep out. Although he did his job by protecting Rahul or another specialist batter, fans questioned the need to send in him the first place.
Ashwin, speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, revealed that this wasn’t the first time Pant had avoided coming out to bat.
“I’ll tell you a story," Ashwin said. “Remember that Test match in Mirpur when India were chasing some 140 runs to win (2023 against Bangladesh)? So I was sitting and relaxing in the dressing room after bowling. It was all hot and humid. I was sitting next to the analyst and Rahul Dravid (head coach) was there a little further. After we lost the first two wickets, Rishabh said main nahi ja raha batting karne (I am not going out to bat) to Rahul bhai. There was a good 30-40 minutes left. But he said I am not going. When the next wicket fell and the No. 4 batter was supposed to go in, he went inside and they had to send Axar Patel first, I guess, and then Jaydev Unadkat to go in as the nightwatchman," he added.
Ashwin said the same thing happened in November 2024 against New Zealand.
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“Rishabh does not like batting in the last 30-40 minutes of the day. That’s why they sent Akash Deep. But see, it is about protecting your best batter, yes. But when you send a batter like Akash Deep and then he gets out, it puts you in even more of a situation. When we were playing against New Zealand, the same thing happened. When Virat Kohli got out, Rishabh was not in a mood to go out. Then we had to Siraj. And when he got out, again a proper batter had to go out."
Pant will have to come out to bat at the start of the fifth day, with India needing 135 runs to win and take a lead in the series.
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