Former cricketer Sourav Ganguly has sent a massive warning to Rishabh Pant to step up for the all-important tour, during which India will aim to secure their first test series win in England since 2007.
He also wants Shubman Gill to perform well and help the team in the five match test series against England.
Speaking at the media, Ganguly has expressed concern that only Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal has the average more than 40 in away matches. The Indian legend was not happy with Rishabh Pant performed in Australia.
He went on to say that the top order will have to average more than 50 in the test format if India wants to dominate in the most red-ball cricket. He said that Virat Kohli could be one of the performers in England and cannot fail in the series.
“Rishabh Pant will have to perform. You can’t keep swinging all the time and expect to be among the scorers in Test cricket. Virat Kohli is the best and I don’t think he will fail in all the five games in England,” said Sourav Ganguly.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant must step up. Only Virat and Jaiswal are averaging more than 40 away from home. If you want to win in Test cricket, three or four of your top six batters must be averaging more than 50 in red-ball cricket,” he said.
Sourav Ganguly emphasized the need to score big runs to win tests in England. He pointed out India’s only win in Australia came because of 400-plus runs in the second innings at Perth.
“We can win matches in England but the batters will have to take the score to 400-500 runs. We won in England, we were 1-1 in Australia against the best team, we regisetered a win in Pakistan because we were scoring 600 runs,” Sourav Ganguly added.
“We scored 600 in Multan, 400 in Lahore, and 700 in Rawalpindi. Our scores were 500 in Brisbane, 500 in Adelaide, and 700 in Sydney. You have to put runs on the board to win Test matches. You can’t do it by scoring 200, 250, or 180,” he concluded.
