I had a great understanding with Ravi Shastri – Rishabh Pant on his relation with former India coach

Rishabh Pant is all set to roar in the whites again and this will be the first time since that unfortunate accident in December 2022 which threatened his life that the youngster will be back in the red-ball format for India.

As the BCCI announced the squad for the opening Test of the Bangladesh series, Pant was picked in the side, hoping to get some decent game time ahead of India’s tour to Australia.

Pant made his impact felt in the 2024 T20 World Cup, announcing his reintroduction to cricket in the grandest of fashion. He was also in fine nick in the first round of Duleep Trophy, instilling hopes of the fireworks that can follow suit in his wake.

Pant’s heroics in Australia and England are well known. The hard-hitting southpaw opened up on the key factor that helped him to deliver in the finest of fashions formerly. Talking to Tanmay Bhat on his YouTube channel, he heaped praise on India’s erstwhile coach, Ravi Shastri.

Pant said, “It was an amazing relationship. I had a great understanding with Ravi Shastri as he gave me the freedom I wanted. I don't like it when someone tells me not to do a specific thing; instead, I prefer someone giving me a better option. I would rather switch to a better option than avoid anything.”

Revealing an important piece of advice shared by Shastri in order to tackle his problem against off-spin, Pant added, “There was a time when I was getting out to off-spinners while playing shots against them. Ravi bhai was thinking about what he should tell me, then he came to me and told me that we have to find a way to tackle off-spinner. He told me that he had found a way and said, "You should play reverse-sweep against an off-spinner and this was about Test cricket.’”

Ravi Shastri played a crucial role in driving India towards important series triumphs which involved beating England once in the latter’s backyard while outmuscling Australia twice Down Under.