Rishabh Pant fell for 39 in the first Test at Galle on August 16, dismissed by Keshara Nuwantha after mistiming an attempt to force the pace. He had batted 36 balls the previous evening for 27. Across 72 deliveries in total, the pattern was visible to anyone watching.
He blocked. Then he swung. There was nothing in between.
Sports Tak’s Vikrant Gupta described the problem during the broadcast.
“Rishabh Pant is either ultra-defensive or looking to hit boundaries straight away, he just isn’t able to rotate the strike with singles and doubles. He doesn’t have confidence in his abilities like he used to.”
Vikrant Gupta, Sports Tak, IND vs SL broadcast, August 16, 2026
That observation captures what has gone wrong with Pant’s batting across formats over the past 12 months.
In two Tests against South Africa in November 2025, Pant managed 49 runs while captaining the side. India were whitewashed 2-0. He was stripped of the Test vice-captaincy before the Afghanistan series in June 2026, with KL Rahul replacing him.
The BCCI also dropped him from the ODI squad entirely for that series.
His IPL record over the past two seasons tells a similar story. Pant scored 269 runs in IPL 2025 and 312 in IPL 2026 for Lucknow Super Giants, the most expensive signing in the tournament’s history at 27 crore. LSG finished seventh and then last. Pant stepped down as captain after IPL 2026.
In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, his numbers read 255 runs in five Tests at 28.33. His best was 61. He kept getting starts and throwing them away with the same binary approach: set himself, then play a high-risk shot before building a platform.
The exception in this stretch was England 2025. Pant scored 479 runs in seven innings at 68.42, including twin centuries at Leeds and 54 at Manchester before a foot fracture ended his tour. That was the last time he played with any sustained rhythm in Test cricket.
Against Afghanistan in June 2026, he made 81 off 121 balls in a match India won by an innings. That innings showed patience. But Afghanistan’s attack does not compare to Sri Lanka’s spin unit at home. The 81 was a reprieve, not a reset.
🚨Rishabh Pant has lost faith in his own ability.
“Rishabh Pant is either ultra-defensive or looking to hit boundaries straight away, he just isn’t able to rotate the strike with singles and doubles. He doesn’t have confidence in his abilities like he used to.#INDvSL pic.twitter.com/QMPLLELGPD
— Indian Cricket 🏏 (@Indiancric1cm) August 16, 2026
What Jurel’s Presence Means
Dhruv Jurel is no longer waiting in the wings. He captained India A on the Sri Lanka tour in June-July 2026, scoring 208 runs in three innings with a century and a fifty. India A won the series 1-0.
Jurel is now in the playing XI at Galle, batting at No.6. He is 25, has played 10 Tests, and already has a Player of the Match award from his second Test against England where he scored 90 and an unbeaten 39 in a winning cause. His maiden Test century came against West Indies in 2025.
Journalist Vaibhav Bhola of News24 reported on August 13 that Jurel is certain to play throughout the Sri Lanka series and that Pant’s position is no longer secure if poor performances continue. The message: scoring quick runs is not enough anymore. Pant needs to win matches.
Both keepers are in the same XI for now. But India’s squad choices for this Sri Lanka tour already signaled that the management is preparing for transitions. Jurel batting one spot below Pant, at six, is not coincidence. It is audition positioning.
Insider Read
The problem is not form. It is the disappearance of a gear.
In Test cricket, the ability to rotate strike through singles and twos separates match winners from entertainers. When a batter loses that middle gear, every ball becomes binary: block or attack. You can see it in the feet. Pant’s feet used to take him into positions to work the ball into gaps, nudge to mid-on, push through point for a quick single. That movement created scoring options without risk. Now his feet are either planted for defence or committed early for a boundary. There is no third option.
Two years of T20 captaincy at the highest price tag in IPL history has rewired how his brain processes risk. In T20, there is no “work it to mid-on for one.” You block or you hit. That binary has bled into his Test batting. When you cannot rotate strike, you get stuck. When you get stuck, the field closes in. When the field closes in, the only escape feels like a big shot. That is the cycle at Galle: 72 balls, boundaries or blocks, nothing in between.
Pant’s Test career reads 50 matches, 3,500-plus runs at an average of 43, eight centuries and 97 sixes. He is three away from becoming the first Indian to hit 100 sixes in Tests. Those are not the numbers of a player who should be fighting for his place.
But the trajectory since England 2025 has been downward. The second innings in Galle and the second Test will determine whether selectors view this as a rough patch or structural decline.
Gambhir’s stated goals for this Sri Lanka series include ticking boxes for the World Test Championship. Pant’s box is the simplest to read: score runs, or watch Jurel take the gloves permanently.
Also Read:
Rahane on Defensive Approach in Sri Lanka Tests
Sarfaraz Khan’s India Comeback for Sri Lanka Series
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