Kumble on Pant’s batting position: “I don’t see him as a number 6 in Australia”

Dixit Bhargav | 03/12/2018
Kumble on Pant's batting position

Kumble on Pant’s batting position: Legendary India leg-spinner has said that India shouldn’t bat their wicket-keeper at No. 6.

Former India leg-spinner and Head Coach Anil Kumble has opined against wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant batting at No. 6 in the imminent series against Australia to be played from December 6 at Adelaide.

Pant, who had made his Test debut against England earlier this year, has scored 346 runs at an average of 43.25 and a strike rate of 73.61 in the five Test matches that he has played at the highest level. While 21-year old Pant scored his maiden Test hundred at No. 7, he scored a couple of 90s against Windies at home at No. 6.

If India will play six specialist batsmen and Pant, he is likely of batting at No. 7. However, if India take the field with five specialist bowlers, Pant will bat at No. 6.

It is in the second case that Kumble believes that Pant should continue to bat at No. 7, with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin batting at No. 6. “No [I don’t see Rishabh Pant as a number 6 in Australia], that’s why I thought when Ashwin moved up the batting order to number six, India should’ve persisted with that.

“I certainly believe that Ashwin is someone who can contribute at that position, especially when India travel abroad. Even in the last series, Ashwin batted really well, he’s done well overseas. He has the temperament and also the technique. He just needs to be in that position for a longer period of time,” Kumble was quoted as saying in an interview to News 18.

In the 13 Test innings which Ashwin has played at No. 6, he has scored 531 runs at an average of 35.40 and a strike rate of 48.36. Having scored two centuries and two half-centuries, the 32-year old cricketer averages the best at No. 6 in Test cricket. Him batting at the same position was advocated highly when Kumble was the coach of the Indian team.

Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on Pant below:

 

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
Anil Kumble India tour of Australia 2018-19 rishabh pant

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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