Follow UsRishabh Pant has had a brilliant start to the England tour. In just two Tests, the Indian wicketkeeper-batter has hammered 342 runs at an average of 85.5 and a strike rate of 81.8. It's already his third-highest run tally in a series - and he’s only nine runs away from making it his best, with three more Tests to go.
That’s not all. Pant has already scored two centuries and a fifty in four innings. It’s the first time he’s hit more than one hundred in a single series. And with the way he bats, it’s never easy to have a fixed plan against him. He plays shots that many others don’t even attempt.
As a captain or a bowler, he can leave you feeling helpless. England skipper Ben Stokes has publicly praised Pant, but has he and head coach Brendon McCullum really come up with the right plan for him? The answer, so far, is no - and the numbers prove it.
Unlike Pat Cummins and his team in Australia, England haven’t been able to control Pant. Their strategy has been off the mark, and Pant has made them pay.
He started the series with scores of 134 and 118 in the first Test, though India lost that match by five wickets. Then at Edgbaston, he smashed 65 off 58 in the second innings to take India’s lead beyond England’s reach. The visitors won the game by a record margin of 336 runs.
Pant is enjoying himself in England, but that wasn’t the case in Australia. In the five-Test series Down Under, he managed just 255 runs across nine innings at an average of 28.33, with only one fifty-plus score. That was his second-worst average in a series featuring three or more Tests.
So, what did Australia do differently?
The difference lies in the angle of attack. England’s seamers haven’t bowled enough from over the wicket to Pant. And even when they have, they have lacked the discipline and patience to stick with it long enough.
Before this tour, Pant had played 19 Tests in SENA countries since 2020. In those matches, he averaged 32.96 against pace - 34.1 vs right-arm seamers and 29 vs left-armers. But here’s the key: against right-armers bowling over the wicket, Pant averaged just 23.9 (16 dismissals). When they come round the wicket, that number went up to 75 (only four dismissals).
Australia used this to great effect in the last series. Cummins and Scott Boland relentlessly attacked from over the wicket. In that series, Pant averaged just 23.3 against over-the-wicket deliveries, facing 152 of them out of 259 from right-arm quicks - nearly 60 percent.
England, in contrast, haven’t explored that option. Pant has looked pretty comfortable against Chris Woakes, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and Stokes. He is averaging 182 against England’s fast bowlers and has been dismissed by them only once in the ongoing series.
They’ve bowled only 68 deliveries from over the wicket to Pant, compared to 163 from round the wicket - less than 30%. And even those 68 haven’t troubled him. He has smashed 74 runs off them at a stunning strike rate of 108, but that’s largely due to the lack of discipline.
If you look at the above image, the English quicks have bowled too short compared to what Cummins and Boland did in Australia. The pitches at Headingley and Edgbaston have been flatter than those in Australia, but England haven’t helped their cause. Their lengths have been inconsistent, and their lines haven’t challenged Pant for a prolonged time.
Stokes’ captaincy style hasn’t helped either. The “Bazball” is all about pushing for a result, often at the cost of long-term plans. England and Stokes have been impatient. If something doesn’t work in a few overs, they move on to the next plan. They haven’t tested Pant’s patience by constantly hitting the good length from over the wicket and forcing him to make a mistake.
In Australia, Pant crossed 20 in seven of nine innings but managed just one score above 50. Cummins didn’t expect instant success - he stuck with his plan and waited for the mistake. Eventually, Pant would throw his wicket away.
It’s a method that has worked for England in the past, too. Ollie Robinson, who hasn’t played a Test since February 2024, has dismissed Pant four times in seven innings - all from over the wicket. Pant averages just 9.8 against him.
England will have to stop Pant if they want to win the series. Stokes will have two fresh weapons in Gus Atkinson and Jofra Archer for the Lord’s Test, starting on July 10. Both can bowl (real) quick, get the ball to move, and maintain pressure from over the wicket - something England haven’t done enough in the first two Tests.
Pant doesn’t just score runs - he changes the mood of a match, and England witnessed it in Leeds and Birmingham. If Stokes can’t learn from what’s already happened, Pant will continue to make England pay.