Ashwin is all praise for Pant

new dehli: Spin legend R Ashwin feels Rishabh Pant will score a century in every game if the maverick India wicketkeeper-batter is able to curb his extravagance and impetuosity as he has got “one of the best defences” in world cricket.

Hailing Pant’s ability to singlehandedly turn a match on its head, Ashwin said a lot of his shots are high-risk, something that is not allowing him to realise his full potential.

Pant scored the second-fastest Test fifty by an Indian during the fifth match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Sydney recently, after a hard-fought 40 in the first innings of the same game.

“We have to tell him properly what he has to do if he has to bat solid or bat with intent. He hasn’t scored a lot of runs, but he didn’t play like someone without runs. He has a lot of time on his hands. Rishabh Pant is yet to realise his fullest potential,” said Ashwin. “He has all the shots -- reverse sweep, slog sweep, everything -- but the problem is that all these shots are high-risk shots. With his defence, he will surely score runs every game if he faces 200 balls. “The point is finding that middle game. If he combines all of it, he will score 100 runs every game. He has to find that middle game,” the recently-retired cricketer added.

While Pant is known for his penchant to play expansive shots, Ashwin was not surprised by the keeper’s tenacious innings in the first essay.

“I have always grown up hearing that you have fight it out. In Sydney, he played two different knocks in one single game,” he said.