Former India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara said it was “surprising” that Rishabh Pant was unable to achieve Test success in the IPL and said a batsman with Pant’s talent and range of shots should put up stronger numbers in the T20 competition. Speaking as a Hindi pundit to JioHotstar on Wednesday, Pujara said Pant’s problems seem to be more about mindset and clarity than technique.
Pujara also hinted that management may be affecting Pant’s performances and said the wicket-keeper batsman could improve if he only focused on batting. He also defended India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav against criticism over inconsistency in the IPL, saying impact matters more than overall run in the format.
Pant remains India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in Tests but slipped into cue ball format. Although he was part of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup winning team, he is no longer a regular in the T20I squad and is the second choice in ODIs behind KL Rahul.
In the IPL, the left-hander scored 3,757 runs in 134 matches, with two centuries and 20 fifties at a strike rate of 146. However, he was more successful in Test cricket, scoring 3,476 runs in 49 matches with eight hundreds, including centuries in England, Australia and South Africa.
“I am also very surprised because someone like Rishabh Pant can attack any bowler in Test cricket and his IPL, if we just look at the stats, it is not as good as in Test cricket,” Pujara told reporters. “I think it’s a mindset thing too. There has to be more clarity in the way Rishabh plays,” he added.
Pujara said he did not see the need for major technical changes in Pant’s batting and instead pointed to the need for clearer thinking about his role and shot selection. Pant started the season looking to bat at the top of the orderbut after a series of failures he returned to the middle order.
“Technically, I don’t see many changes that are needed in Rishabh’s bat. It’s just a mind set,” Pujara said. “It’s also the clarity of thought, the clarity of what he has to do when he goes to bat and the kind of shots he should be playing because in Test cricket he knows these are his areas and even when the pitch is held on the edge he still picks the right pockets to hit the shots.”
Pujara also said that Pant remains more dominant on the leg side in T20 cricket and that improving his off-field game could make him more effective. “In the T20 format, he is a bit more dominant on the leg side where he will need to work on his game on the off side, which will allow him to be even more successful,” he said.
As for the captaincy, Pujara said the increased responsibility may not help Pant. Referring to the management’s pressure on players like Hardik Pandya, Pant and Axar Patel, he said Pant would benefit from playing only as a batsman. “We saw that the captaincy didn’t help him much,” Pujara said. “But it’s always his personal decision whether he wants to continue as a leader or the franchise will look at another leader and if Rishabh Pant plays as a player, will his performance improve? If so, then I’m sure he should.”
Pujara also backed Suryakumar Yadav amid criticism over inconsistency in the IPL and said T20 cricket should be judged more on impact than totals. “Consistency is overrated in the T20 format,” he said. “Sometimes we expect a player to get 40-50-60, whatever that higher number is, but the impact you bring to the team is more important than the number of runs you get.” Pujara’s assessment covered Pant’s struggles in the IPL, the need for more clarity in his approach to the bat and the wider demands of performance in the T20 format.
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Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
May 7, 2026 1:31 PM IST
