The pros and cons of Rishabh Pant's technique- Aakash Chopra

[Ankit_sharma03]

Rishabh Pant is a throwback to the era when big hits were an outcome of a high backlift and a powerful downswing.

Modern-day batting has become more about the bat speed and less about the bat swing. The focus, today, is mostly on cocking and then uncocking the wrists at the time of impact. Virat Kohli is a good example of how batting is increasingly about forearms and wrists, where you don't throw the weight of your body behind the shot as much as batsmen of old used to.

Pant's strength is in the power he generates from his high backlift and free-flowing downswing. The momentum generated by the exaggerated movement of the bat and arms invariably throws the weight of the body behind the ball, which is why even some of his mistimed aerial shots land outside the fence.

Batsmen with high backlifts often seem to connect late on the ball. Batting is all about syncing the downswing with the incoming delivery, so when the bowler is too fast or too slow, the downswing may not be in sync, and therefore gives the impression of being a little late on the ball. Yuvraj Singh is currently facing this issue against both pace and spin.

But Pant's biggest strength, even more than his free-flowing bat swing, is his ability to read the line and length from the bowler's hand a fraction quicker than the rest. You rarely find him getting rushed into a shot, for his downswing is almost always perfectly in sync with the incoming delivery. More than against the faster bowlers, Pant's ability to read offspinner Sunil Narine out of the hand and then place his deliveries into the gaps puts him in the league of highly skilled batsmen.

However, high backlifts can cause some problems. An exaggerated backlift and downswing often leads to your body going off balance now and then. Pant's head falling towards the off side is a sign of this problem, and it gets a little more pronounced when he tries to play aerial shots behind square leg. But, to his credit, even while falling over, Pant rarely fails to make contact with the ball. Also, the falling happens only once in a while. On all other occasions, he manages to keep his head stable and his posture intact - which is necessary for big hitting.

Even so, the ability to hit sixes at will has a flip side: the temptation to try to hit sixes all the time irrespective of the match situation. Clean strikers of the ball, like Pant, don't look at hitting a six as a risk-taking option; they treat it like other batsmen treat playing a cover drive. While this attitude is a prerequisite for hitting sixes, it can lead you down a risky path.

Pant has been given a few opportunities with the India T20I side and he has failed to make the most of them so far. He can either view the limited chances as a little harsh, since there are others who have been given a longer rope, or he can look inwards and acknowledge that he could have done better with the chances he did get.

Since he played in MS Dhoni's absence, he needed to do enough to hold on to his place when Dhoni returned. Unfortunately, he didn't do that. But his innings against Royal Challengers Bangalore on a turning pitch showed that he's developing another gear in his batting, and if he's able to replicate that template often, he will be on track for regular success at all levels.

While there hasn't been much debate about Pant's batting abilities, there were always doubts about his glove work. But in the last two seasons of the IPL he has shown how much his keeping has improved. He is no longer dropping catches. In fact, he has started taking some seriously good ones, and effecting stumpings.

His running between the wickets needs work. During his 128 not out against Sunrisers Hyderabad, one of the finest knocks of this year's IPL, he was guilty of throwing a couple of his mates under the bus. Unfortunately, it wasn't the only occasion in the tournament when he failed to judge the availability of a run. He might have to start paying for his mistakes. It isn't ideal if your partners end up paying for your mistakes all the time.

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/23690585/pros-cons-rishabh-pant-technique

 

 

Edited June 4, 2018 by Ankit_sharma03

[Ankit_sharma03]

Just now, Ankit_sharma03 said:

 

Batsmen with high backlifts often seem to connect late on the ball. Batting is all about syncing the downswing with the incoming delivery, so when the bowler is too fast or too slow, the downswing may not be in sync, and therefore gives the impression of being a little late on the ball. Yuvraj Singh is currently facing this issue against both pace and spin.

But their is a diff btw his n yuvraj age, yuvraj reflxes have gone down and his fitness is not gr8 either so he will be late on the ball . Thats where dhoni has cut down his backlift. I think Pant shudnt worry about it now so much, as he grows as international cricketer he will keep making changes to his technique 

[putrevus]

Pant so far has gotten raw deal as far as batting goes. I am not equipped to even understand the finer aspects of  wicket keeping so won't comment on it.

 

But I know for sure DK and PP are useless keepers unless Pant's keeping is so bad in comparison to these two, I don't see any reason why he is not playing test against Afghanistan.

Edited June 4, 2018 by putrevus

[wanted_desi]

3 hours ago, putrevus said:

Pant so far has gotten raw deal as far as batting goes. I am not equipped to even understand the finer aspects of  wicket keeping so won't comment on it.

 

But I know for sure DK and PP are useless keepers unless Pant's keeping is so bad in comparison to these two, I don't see any reason why he is not playing test against Afghanistan.

They will have no space to hide if Pant does well at International Level. Till Dhoni is not gone from picture, you won't see Pant making any squad. 

[putrevus]

16 minutes ago, wanted_desi said:

They will have no space to hide if Pant does well at International Level. Till Dhoni is not gone from picture, you won't see Pant making any squad. 

It is like SA trying to get Dane Vilas and co in tests against India denying Dekock the chances. No fricking idea why these selectors are rotating TTFs like PP and Karthik. MSK needs to go.

[cowboysfan]

I watch baseball too and high and big swingers have problems with really fast pitches and change ups,not sure if Pants technique is going to survive the modern game but he needs to play regularly to find out.

[Vilander]

Pros : He can hack it in IPL quite a lot. Cons : He cant hack it outside where it swings.

[Vilander]

1 hour ago, putrevus said:

rotating TTFs like PP and Karthik

i think Karthik on recent form is not a bad pick, but we will see what he does. Dont think he will get too many chances if he fails.

[putrevus]

18 minutes ago, Vilander said:

i think Karthik on recent form is not a bad pick, but we will see what he does. Dont think he will get too many chances if he fails.

How is Kathik better pick than Pant even on recent form, didn't Pant score more runs and at better SR than Karthik in IPL.

 

 

 

 

[jalebi_bhai]

1 hour ago, cowboysfan said:

I watch baseball too and high and big swingers have problems with really fast pitches and change ups,not sure if Pants technique is going to survive the modern game but he needs to play regularly to find out.

True, but the ball decelerates a lot more in cricket so he'll have more reaction time. He was smashing Bhuvi's change-up knuckle balls without much problem this year. 

 

I'm more worried about his head leaning too much towards the off-side more than anything. 

[Vilander]

4 hours ago, putrevus said:

How is Kathik better pick than Pant even on recent form, didn't Pant score more runs and at better SR than Karthik in IPL.

 

 

 

 

i ment the great Nidhas trophy. Pant is good too, not followed his keeping he can play as a batsman.

[Number]

Akash is analyzing too much too early here. Many modern day players have high back lift and are quite successful too.

He has not even played an ODI game yet let alone tests. It is possible that his batting style there is different in those formats. 

[vvvslaxman]

Cons he could slip real bad and hurt himself. His balance issues need to be addressed.