Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has said it is “surprising” that Rishabh Pant has not been able to match his Test success in the IPL, saying a batter with Pant’s talent and range of shots should have stronger numbers in the T20 competition. Speaking as a JioHotstar Hindi expert on Wednesday, Pujara said Pant’s issues appear to be more about mindset and clarity than technique.
Pujara also suggested that leadership may be affecting Pant’s performances and said the wicketkeeper-batter could improve if he focused only on batting. He also defended India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav against criticism over inconsistency in the IPL, saying impact matters more than aggregate runs in the format.
Pant remains India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in Tests, but he has slipped in the white-ball formats. Although he was part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2024, he is no longer a regular in the T20I side and is second-choice in ODIs behind KL Rahul.
In the IPL, the left-hander has scored 3,757 runs in 134 matches, with two centuries and 20 fifties at a strike rate of 146. In Test cricket, however, he has enjoyed greater success, 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, when we just look at the stats, it is not as good as in Test cricket,” Pujara told reporters. “I think it is the mindset thing also. There has to be some more clarity in the way Rishabh plays,” he added.
Pujara said he does not see major technical changes being required in Pant’s batting, and instead pointed to the need for clearer thinking about his role and shot selection. Pant began the season wanting to bat in the top order, but moved back to the middle order after a string of failures.
“Technically, I don’t see a lot of changes which is needed in Rishabh’s batting. It’s just the mindset,” Pujara said. “It’s also clarity of thoughts, clarity in what he needs to do when he walks in to bat and the kind of shots he should play because in Test cricket, he knows that these are his areas and even if the field is kept on the fence, he still picks the right pockets to hit the shots.”
Pujara also said Pant remains more dominant on the leg side in T20 cricket and that improving his off-side play could make him more effective. “In T20 format, he is a little more dominant on the leg side where he will have to work on his game on the off side which will allow him to be even more successful,” he said.
On captaincy, Pujara said the added responsibility may not be helping Pant. Referring to the pressure of leadership on players such as Hardik Pandya, Pant and Axar Patel, he said Pant could benefit if he played only as a batter. “We have seen that captainship hasn’t been helping him a lot,” Pujara said. “But it is always his personal decision whether he wants to continue as a leader or the franchise looks at another leader and if Rishabh Pant plays as a player will his performance get better? If it does, then I’m sure he should do that.”
Pujara also backed Suryakumar Yadav amid criticism over inconsistency in the IPL, saying T20 cricket should be judged more on influence than on totals. “Consistency is overrated in a T20 format,” he said. “Sometimes our expectation is for a player to get 40-50-60 whatever that higher number is but the impact which you bring in a team is more important than the number of runs you get.” Pujara’s assessment covered Pant’s struggles in the IPL, the need for greater clarity in his batting approach and the wider demands of performance in the T20 format.
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