Ravichandran Ashwin's Hard Message to Rishabh Pant: Talent is Not Enough

Ravichandran Ashwin has never been one to dress up an opinion. On his show ‘Ash Ki Baat’, the former India off-spinner turned his gaze on Rishabh Pant and, beneath the praise, delivered a hard message: talent is no longer enough.

Pant has just walked out of a respectable series against Sri Lanka – 168 runs, two half-centuries in two Tests – numbers that, on paper, look solid. Ashwin’s view: the scorecard flatters the story.

For him, the issue is not how many Pant scored, but how and when he chose to take his chances.

Numbers on the board, questions in the air

Pant’s batting has long been wrapped in a familiar label: fearless, instinctive, game-changing. It is also increasingly wrapped in a caveat. His dismissals, Ashwin argued, often arrive at moments when India can least afford them.

He went back to Guwahati last year, against South Africa. Pant, captaining India in Shubman Gill’s absence, charged down the track to Marco Jansen and nicked off to the wicketkeeper. The risk wasn’t just high; it was, in Ashwin’s eyes, unnecessary.

That, he suggested, is the pattern that must change.

“My expectation from Rishabh Pant hasn't been fulfilled till now. I am very sorry,” Ashwin said, before underlining the difference between positive intent and reckless choice. He even pointed to Sonal Dinusha’s strike rate in comparison, stressing that the issue isn’t aggression itself, but the “high-risk options” Pant picks when the game is in India’s hands.

The familiar defence — “That’s how Rishabh plays” — doesn’t wash with him. “It is about what your team needs,” he said.

No free pass for a “once-in-a-generation” talent

The host on the show tried the most common argument in Pant’s favour: this is a rare player, someone who has already shaped iconic wins, someone you allow to play on instinct because he can change a Test in a session.

Ashwin pushed back.

He acknowledged those famous knocks in Sydney and Brisbane, but reminded listeners that even those epics did not belong to Pant alone. “Rishabh played a class knock in Sydney and Brisbane, but you couldn't have won that match without Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur,” he said.

It was his way of reinforcing a simple truth: Tests are built over five days by 11 players. One moment of brilliance can turn a game, but “it takes only 1 moment of foolishness to lose a Test.”

Ashwin was careful not to attack Pant’s natural game. He made it clear he loves “Rishabh the player”. What he cannot accept is high-risk adventurism when the match situation demands composure.

“I am just talking about the times when these chances are being taken when the game is on the line,” he said, before invoking two of the format’s most destructive openers. “Sehwag and Gilchrist played high brand of cricket, but these two don't get edged out while dancing down to Marco Jansen when your team is trailing by 500 runs.”

Then came the line that cut through all the romanticism around Pant’s style: “Don't place these marketing lines in front of me ever again.”

Responsibility, not romance

For Ashwin, the “once-in-a-generation” tag has become a shield, a way of insulating Pant from the kind of blunt feedback that might actually unlock his next level.

“Don't give one player special treatment. This once-in-a-generation player backing, then give it to everyone. Jaiswal is also such a player,” he said. If that label is to be used, it cannot become a private cushion for one cricketer.

Pant has now played 50 Tests. That milestone, in Ashwin’s eyes, changes the conversation. A rookie can be indulged. A veteran cannot.

“All I'm saying, Rishabh, is that he is experienced; he has played 50 Tests. He needs to take responsibility,” Ashwin said. The problem, as he framed it, is not skill, not temperament under pressure, but decision-making – the very thing that separates a dangerous player from a defining one.

“It is because of his decision-making that he's not playing the other two formats,” Ashwin added, drawing a direct line between Pant’s Test shot selection and his absence from India’s ODI and T20I squads.

A crossroads for Pant

Right now, Pant is a Test-only cricketer for India, having slipped out of favour in the white-ball sides. He remains central to the red-ball setup, a match-winner on his day, a keeper who can tilt a session in an hour.

Ashwin believes the route back to all-format status does not lie in more audacious strokes or a louder defence of his natural flair. It lies in something quieter: the ability to read the game, to throttle back when the contest hangs in the balance, to choose the percentage option when the dressing room needs stability, not spectacle.

“The day you tell him the truth, he will be an all-format player for India,” Ashwin said.

The message could not be clearer. India know what Pant can do. The question now is whether he is ready to decide what he will stop doing.