Rishabh Pant may seem irresponsible playing certain shots but he is not: Sanjay Manjrekar

Rishabh Pant’s attacking century in the third ODI of the England series won India a game where they were put under the pump.

Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has backed Indian wicket-keeper batsman in terms of his shot selection. While Pant has been in tremendous form off late, his shot selection has kept fans at the edge of their seats. Pant’s ability to attempt outrageous strokes has been adored all over the world, but the flip side of such attempts is that it brings an added bit of risk.

Speaking to SPORTS18. Manjrekar said that Pant is evolving as a batter. The former cricketer said that the young keeper-batter was not irresponsible and the shots that he attempts come naturally to him.

“No, he’s always responsible. He may seem irresponsible sometimes when he gets out, when he gets out playing one of those kinds of shots, we’ve got to look at it as somebody getting out at slips because the game has changed and that is Rishabh Pant’s primary sort of skill. He’s got to sound different but when he extends himself, he tries these shots. The winning runs for example, it’s a part of his basic attacking array of shots that he has. So, responsibility wise I think this guy is just incredible because of the kind of record he has in Test cricket. You can’t play those kind of shots if you are not responsible by nature,” the former batter said.

Speaking about his exploits in the ODI format, Manjrekar said that Pant was calmness personified. The left-hander on multiple occasions, has soaked a lot of pressure before unleashing his full wrath. He saved India from collapse in the fifth Test match between India and England in July 2022, scoring a tremendous century alongside Ravindra Jadeja.

He backed up that performance with yet another century in the ODI series, winning the visitors the series.

"In this one day as well you could see him. He was responsibility personified; he was calmness personified. I got very excited watching Rishabh Pant because there’s something about this country, that we keep producing these kinds of batters every generation.”