Former strength and conditioning coach of Team India, Soham Desai, has made a huge revelation. Desai has stated about India’s wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant that when Pant was not in the playing 11 during the Champions Trophy, he used to work very hard. Pant was unable to get a slot in Team India throughout the tournament. Following this, Pant also failed in IPL 2025. Eventually, Pant worked so hard that his hands were filled with blisters.
“Rishabh Pant put himself through a punishing routine when he was benched in the CT. He did the most intense sessions. He dragged me into the gym whenever he was free. He didn’t care about fatigue or workload“. Soham told The Times of India.
“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. Pant has so much in reserve that he will be fine for at least a year without having to do anything extraordinary,” Desai added.
Also Read: Jasprit Bumrah Vs Arshdeep Singh: 2024 T20 World Cup Stats Comparison
Rishabh Pant put himself through a punishing routine when he was benched from the XI during the Champions Trophy, 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-load – Soham Desai via TOI pic.twitter.com/FEgUSxiAI4
— Sandy (@flamboypant) June 29, 2025
Responsibilities Increase in Leadership Role
Pant addressed his childhood coach Devendra Sharma after a week’s hiatus in IPL 2025. During this period, Pant stated that he is now enjoying batting after months. Over the last 5 years, Pant has become India’s best Test batter. His touch has come back. But now questions are arising that Pant will have to play with a bit more responsibility as he is the team’s senior batsman. Pant batted sensibly in both innings of the Test at Headingley, but after getting a hundred, he played so many odd shots and got dismissed. Under such circumstances, if Pant had not committed this error, he would have scored a larger total.
Pant has turned out to be the most consistent and prolific batter in the longest format of the game. He is now in the leadership role for the national team, serving as the deputy of Shubman Gill in the test series currently taking place in England.
