WI vs IND | Looking forward to more such performances from Rishabh Pant, says Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli was all praise for the young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who, after failures in the first two matches, played a mature hand in leading India across the finish line against West Indies. Kohli was also impressed with the Chahar brothers’ performances with the ball.
If a first-ball slog against Narine got him out in the first T20I, it was a total mistiming of the ball that claimed his wicket in the second. Pant, the future star of Indian cricket, had a total of four runs from six balls so far. Then, in the third T20I, India were 27 for two chasing 146, when he walked in. Not an impossible task, but given that it was Pant walking in, no one could really predict what would follow.Â
To at least a few people’s surprises, and everybody’s delight, Pant executed exactly what the doctor (the batting coach, in this instance) ordered. He hit an unbeaten 65 off 42 balls to see India through to a series whitewash. And boy, was his skipper Kohli impressed.
“Today, he made sure that he backed his skills, backed himself to play the big shots when required, and really played with the tempo of what the innings required. The message to him from the batting coach was to finish the game off and hit the winning runs, which always gives you confidence as a player. We’re all looking forward to more performances like this from him, we know he’s got tremendous talent, it’s just about getting into the zone and doing this more often for the team,” Kohli said in the post-match press conference, reported Cricbuzz.
Although Pant returned to form, the more senior left-hander, Shikhar Dhawan’s torrid time continued. But his scores of 1, 23, and 3 are not really a major concern for Kohli.
“He’s an experienced player, and we don’t really look much into T20 cricket, because you need to get on with the game and you will get out at some stage. Fifty over cricket gives you a chance to get into your innings, and we all know the skill set that he has. So the ODI series will give him a chance to ease into things,” Kohli said.
Having already won the series, Kohli decided to fiddle with the squad for the third match at Guyana. The match saw brothers Rahul and Deepak Chahar play together for the country for the first time. Kohli was particularly impressed with the latter’s man-of-the-match performance. Deepak’s figures read 3-1-4-3.Â
“Deepak was outstanding with the new ball, the pitch didn’t have much, but there was some cloud cover. So the way he bowled early on with swing, getting us those three wickets, I think that really set West Indies back. Rahul also came back well in the third over and got a wicket,” Kohli said.
But the Men in Blue won’t have the luxury of reveling in their spoils from the T20I series, with the ODI series starting as early as Thursday. Kohli outlined how the team plans to deal with the quick turnover time between the two series’.
“To prepare for the ODI series, a lot of the guys are going to take a day off tomorrow, and from that point of view I think it was important to get a hit and get some runs out in the middle. It’s going to be challenging with the conditions and the humidity. From that point of view, it’s good that we got a full game and a lot of guys got a hit out in the middle,” Kohli added.​