Rishabh Pant to have a mega series in Australia, says Watson as both teams gear up for the highly-anticipated series.
Rishabh Pant will be looking to add to his Australian daredevilry as India steps on Australian shores ahead of what is shaping to be a blockbuster series.
Without Cheteshwar Pujara, how would India’s final two Test trips of Australia have gone? The man is no longer in India’s lineup. He took hit after hit, batted for hours on end, and drove Australia’s bowlers wild. However, in the opinion of former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson, India’s more modern Test team, with its potent batting lineup, will continue to pose a challenge to Australia when they visit for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later in the year.
“I don’t see it [India’s batting dynamic] changing a lot,” Watson said on the sidelines of the launch of the International Masters League in Mumbai on Tuesday. “The thing when you talk about Pujara, for example, is he just doesn’t make a mistake. Whereas you’ve seen so many of these incredible batters for India – top-order batters. Someone like [Yashasvi] Jaiswal, he’s scored runs very quickly, but he hasn’t made a mistake.”
In the five-match series that starts in Perth on November 22, Watson singled out Indian hitters Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant as potential concerns to Australia.
“For me, with the calibre of batters that India have got and the skill they’ve got. There’s no reason why they can’t combine that. Putting pressure on bowlers, score quickly. But also not make mistakes, which we’ve seen those Indian batters, in particular Jaiswal [do],” Watson stated. Additionally, we’ve seen Rishabh Pant enter and execute the same action. Take the game on, but also don’t give the opposition many opportunities to get them out.”
“He’s [Pant] got great memories from his last tour that he had from a batting perspective in Australia,” Watson said. “That innings he played at the Gabba was something very special. So knowing that he’s come through his challenges in the last couple of years. To be able to come back as an even better player than what he left off, I think he’s going to have a big series.