"You cannot keep swinging all the time" - Former India captain's scathing take on Rishabh Pant's Test game ahead of England tour

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has opined that Rishabh Pant cannot slog his way out of the swing-friendly conditions in England in June-July this year. The wicketkeeper-batter made his Test debut in England seven years ago and faced a trial by fire straightaway.

Rishabh Pant reclaimed India's wicketkeeper spot after recovering from injuries sustained during a car accident in 2022. He recorded a ton on his return match to kickstart India's home season and was among the runs in India's whitewash loss to New Zealand too.

However, the Southpaw was far from his best during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar series. He struggled against Australia's sheer pace and bounce to record only 255 runs in nine innings at an average of 28.33.

Pant was lambasted for his unorthodox shot selection on multiple occasions, but scored a quickfire fifty in the final Test in Sydney with his usual aggressive template.

Ganguly recently remarked that Pant needs to build up the mentality to stay at the crease instead of looking for a quick way out.

"[Rishabh] Pant has got to bite the bullet and play the swinging ball. You can not keep swinging all the time and expect to score runs in Test cricket. It is a mentality, determination, and grit," Ganguly said during Trailblazers 3.0 by RevSportz (via Hindustan Times).

Rishabh Pant has toured England twice (in 2018 and 2021) so far, scoring 556 runs in 17 innings at an average of 32.71. He has two hundreds to his name in the country, including a sublime 114 during the final Test of the 2018 tour, and a breathtaking 146 in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston in 2022.

"I do not see him failing in five Test matches in England" - Sourav Ganguly on Virat Kohli's prospects during Team India's red-ball tour

The England tour will kickstart Team India's 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) campaign. After missing out on the final in the third cycle, the Men in Blue will be on the lookout to register a comeback in red-ball cricket.

A huge reason behind India's red-ball struggles has been a lack of runs from Virat Kohli's bat. The ace batter recorded a hundred in Perth during the Border-Gavaskar series but has largely been out of form since the start of the home season in September 2024, if not beyond that.

Kohli has had an up-and-down tryst with England over the course of his career. He buried the ghosts of the horrendous 2014 tour (134 runs in 10 innings) with a stunning campaign in 2018 (593 runs in 10 innings). However, he had a lukewarm tour in 2021, scoring only 249 runs in five Tests at an average of 27.67.

Ganguly feels Kohli will have a say in the five-match series, and urged the rest of the batting unit to step up.

"They have the talent—Virat Kohli, the best in the business. I do not see him failing in five Test matches in England. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill—they need to step up. My only worry is that, other than Virat and Yashasvi, not many average more than 40 away from home. If you want to be a good Test team, three or four of your top six batters must be averaging close to 50 in Test matches," Ganguly said in the same interview.

India's tour of England is scheduled to begin on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds. The Men in Blue have not won a red-ball series in the country since 2007.