Former Pakistan captain and batter Salman Butt feels that India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is overweight. Butt made the comments while talking about Pant's batting performance in the first innings of the ongoing first Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram. Butt said that Pant tries to play innovative shots, and claimed that it would have been easier for him to execute those shots, had he been fit. Pant had scored a blazing 46 off 45 balls in the first innings of the match against Bangladesh.
"Rishabh Pant was playing the way he likes to, but he went for something innovative and got out. It was a weird dismissal as the ball hit the bat, pad before rattling the stumps. I always speak on Rishabh Pant's fitness because the kind of shots he plays and tries to innovate, it would be easier for him execute those shots if he was fit. I think he is overweight. Definitely, he is overweight and because of that, he is not very agile. He is under the level where he should be, in terms of fitness," Butt said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Pant's knock played a crucial role in taking India to a total of 404. When he had come to the crease, India were 48 for 3 after losing Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli,. Bangladesh were on top, but Pant's counter-attack turned the tables.
Later, Cheteshwar Pujara went on to score 90 and Shreyas Iyer contributed with an 86-run knock as India posted 404 runs before they were bundled out by Bangladesh in the first innings.