Rishabh Pant starte dthe ongoing tour of England with centuries in both innings of the furst test at Leeds. Despite the stunning effort from the wicketkeeper batsman, India lost the match to England by 5 wickets. However things weren't same couple of months back for Indian Test team's vice captain.
Before England series, India visited Australia for the Border Gavaskar series which they lost 3-1. During the Melbourne test Pant was slammed by Gavaskar on-air for playing a rash shot and losing his wicket during India's Test match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Speaking on ABC sports he termed the dismissal 'Stupid,Stupid,Stupid'
A The Times of India report stated that Pant decided to uninstall WhatsApp in March 2025, and he even turned his phone off. He only turned his phone on when he needed to contact somebody.
India's former strength and conditioning coach, Sohum Desai said, "He did the most intense sessions day in and day out. He dragged me into the gym whenever he was free. He didn't care about fatigue or work-loaded programmes. All he said was he needed to keep working on himself. On the day of the final, he came to me with some kind of guilt in his mind and asked if he could take the day off. I said it was high time that he did".
Rishabh Pant returns with bang
After being criticised for his poor shot display in Australia Pant returned in whites to change his fortunes. The Indian vice-captain managed to do that right in the first match of the England series.
Due to his twin centuries in the Leeds Test against England, Pant achieved a career-best Test ICC ranking. He is now in seventh position in the ICC Test Batting Rankings.
India and England will now square off in the second Test of the five-match series, beginning July 2 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
