NEW DELHI: India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Friday stressed that Rishabh Pant does not need to change his natural style of batting but must play according to the demands of the match situation, echoing comments made a day earlier by assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate.

Pant was removed as India’s Test vice-captain when the BCCI announced the squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan last month. Speaking ahead of the match, which begins on Saturday in New Chandigarh, Gambhir said he continues to back the wicketkeeper-batter but expects him to judge situations better.

“We don’t want Rishabh Pant to change but international cricket demands players to respect match situations,” Gambhir said in the pre-match press conference.

His remarks came a day after Ten Doeschate spoke about Pant’s approach to batting and leadership.

“With Rishabh’s brilliance, we don’t want to take away all the stuff that he does but occasionally if he can adjust his game to play the (match) situations slightly more, I think that’s something you’ll see him work on.”

“I don’t think he needs a formal title to be a leader in an elite setup like this, and I think Rishabh understands that,” Ten Doeschate said on the decision to remove Pant as vice-captain.

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Pant, 28, is set to play his 50th Test when India take on Afghanistan. In 49 Tests, he has scored 3,476 runs at an average of 42.91 and a strike rate of 74.24, including eight centuries and 18 half-centuries.

The landmark match comes after a difficult period for Pant. He endured a poor IPL 2026 season both as batter and captain of Lucknow Super Giants and also lost the Test vice-captaincy to KL Rahul.

During the Test series against South Africa and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, Pant’s attacking approach came under scrutiny at times.

The Afghanistan Test now offers him an opportunity to return his focus to red-ball cricket and make an impact with the bat as India begin another Test assignment.

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