Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly slammed wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant for his poor performance in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. After the heroics in the 2020-21 tour, much was expected out of Pant in India’s most recent Test series in Australia.

However, the southpaw flattered to deceive, scoring only 255 runs in the five matches at an average of 28.33 with a lone half-century. Beyond the numbers, Pant’s lack of game awareness and poor shot selection at various times during the series were heavily criticized by several fans and experts.

Pant is set to be one of India’s senior batters in the upcoming five-Test series in England after the recent Test retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Talking about the star gloveman in an interview with RevSportz, Ganguly said:

“I did not like what I saw of him in Australia. Too many shots. Just too many shots. He was just swinging at every ball, and that’s not how you bat in conditions where the ball was moving around a bit. He needs to show fight. He has a very good defence. That’s what I want to see.”

He continued:

“I want him to fight and grind down. Be ugly. Look ugly. But don’t swing at every ball and give it away. I know he is a stroke-maker and that’s his strength, but then he will have to adapt and play accordingly.”

Pant’s sub-par performances played a massive role in India surrendering a 1-0 advantage and losing the Australian series 1-3.

“England are a better side in these conditions” – Sourav Ganguly on upcoming IND-ENG Tests

Sourav Ganguly acknowledged that England were the better of the two sides on home soil while predicting the outcome of India’s upcoming Test tour of the UK. However, the former skipper did not write off India’s chances, especially if they bat well and ace Jasprit Bumrah comes up big.

“England are a better side in these conditions. But if India bat well and bat tough, and if they use Bumrah well, they will have a chance. Look, I will come back to watch Edgbaston or Lord’s, and that’s because I believe they have a chance,” said Ganguly (via aforementioned source).

He concluded:

“Rahul Dravid and I weren’t any different in 1996. We made the most of our opportunity. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan should do the same.”

The first Test of the highly anticipated India-England series will be played at Leeds, starting June 20.