3 reasons why Rishabh Pant must play as a specialist batter in ENG vs IND 2025 4th Test

Rishabh Pant's injury in the third Test caused a major headache for Team India. The seriousness of the injury in the finger is yet to be disclosed by the management. Ahead of the fourth match of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, which turns into a do-or-die situation for the Shubman Gill-led side after getting defeated at Lord's. Experts like Ravi Shastri expressed their concerns about Pant. He has been in stunning form so far in the innings, scoring centuries in both innings of the series opener, followed by two half centuries.

In the first innings of the third match, his 74-run knock was crucial, but the collapsing batting line-up in the second innings resulted in India's defeat. Now there's a debate whether to play Pant only as an expert batter in the upcoming contest if he is not able to recover one hundred percent. Shastri opined that India should drop the keeper if his injury remains under the scanner. Though, there are at least three reasons Team India has right now is to include a not a fully fit Rishabh Pant in the line-up only for his batting abilities. 

Rishabh Pant's form:

After Captain Shubman Gill's record-breaking batting numbers, Pant emerged as the second-best batsman in the series in terms of scoring runs. Despite continuous criticisms over his batting style, his contributions with the bat, at least in the series, are beyond question. So, if the team feels the need for an in-form batter in the playing XI, then obviously the southpaw is the man. 

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There's a backup option:

During Pant's absence, Dhruv Jurel did the behind-the-stumps job. So, the team has a second option as a full-time wicketkeeper option. If Jurel comes into the XI, then India may have to reshuffle batting positions. Both Jurel and Pant are middle-order batters. In that case, management has to exclude either a full-time batsman or an all-rounder. Among the batters, Karun Nair has so far remained unimpressive, and as an all-rounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy's performance was also not satisfying. 

The X-factor:

Above all the doubts, Rishabh Pant's unpredictable batting style comes with an X-factor to eliminate, which is not easy to find. His swashbuckling batting can pose a threat to the opposition team in any condition of a match.