After struggling to score big runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, Rishabh Pant left Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captaincy. As Pant hasn’t been in best of forms, he has lost his spot in ODIs and nowhere near in contention for a comeback to T20Is. As Pant switches focus to the format he has dominated, the Tests, his formative coach Devender Sharma revealed that he advised the wicketkeeper-batter to ‘get back to basics’. Devender feels that the southpaw is pushing himself too much and needs to let go.
"He is trying too much and mostly playing horizontal shots. He is pushing & forcing himself too much. He should play more vertical shots that will give him more success.
"When I last talked to him, I had suggested him to play more vertical shots to get back into form. When you are not getting runs, you need to get back to basics," Sharma told PTI on June 4.
Devender is not concerned about Pant’s lean patch in white-ball cricket. He says that it is part and parcel of the game. He hopes Pant gets back to winning games for India.
"Rishabh is a mentally strong cricketer. After the car accident, when he went to England, he scored centuries in both innings of a Test match. It's a big thing for a cricketer.
"I have seen him since childhood and groomed him. Whatever matches he played after the accident, he played well. IPL is a white ball game. He had a lean patch there. It comes in every big cricketer's career. Ups and downs come in every cricketer's life.
"It's a phase and it will go. I am quite hopeful that Rishabh will come back strongly and win matches for India again," he added.
‘Must cut down innovative shots’
Devender was asked what he would tell Pant ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan. He wants the 28-year-old to proceed with controlled aggression and curb the innovative shots.
"I will tell him to play a little differently with a different approach as there is a lot of difference in Test & T20 cricket. Last time when he played Test for India, he played a match winning innings. I am sure he will do it again against Afghanistan," said the Sonnet coach.
"He should show controlled aggression. He should concentrate more. The problem is that he has too many strokes (shots) backfoot, frontfoot. He must cut down on his innovative shots. He should play more on the off-side rather than on the on-side," he observed.
Pant’s run in 2025 Tests
Pant did not have unimpressive numbers in the red-ball format in 2025. He scored 629 runs from seven Tests at an average of 48.38. Notably, it includes twin centuries in Leeds Test. He struggled in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2025-26, didn't play in the Test series against West Indies and managed just 49 runs against the Proteas in series defeat.
Pant’s poor run in IPL 2026
The wicketkeeper managed to score 312 runs from 13 innings in IPL 2026, averaging 28.36 and striking at 138.05. He managed just one half-century in the season.