Rishabh Pant says he shouldn’t be judged by that Old Trafford six

11/15/2018

MS Dhoni’s most probable successor, Rishabh Pant has stated that his batting should be judged by the kind of knocks he has played and not by his six off Adil Rashid at Trent Bridge. Pant also revealed that Ravi Shastri has been constant in touch with him over the phone ahead of the Australia series.

2018 has been a progressive one for Pant so far. Before the England tour, he was nothing more than an understudy to MS Dhoni and Wriddhiman Shaha. However, with Saha sitting out of the tour with an injury and Dinesh Karthik’s repeated failure with the bat, Pant was thrown into the wolves at the Trent Bridge with India trying to get back into the series from 2-0 down.

BCCI’s idea of getting Pant acquainted with the rigours of playing in England was out of India and before Pant could realize, he was facing an Adil Rashid, who was overbrimming with confidence. 21-year-old Pant was, however, fearless in his approach and after defending the first ball, as he danced down the track to put the ball straight out of the ground.

Though Pant couldn’t convert his start into a big score in that match, India went on to win it to reduce the margin to 2-1. Pant has since been India’s first choice in whites and he further strengthened his case by hitting a century in Oval. However, speaking in an interview with TOI, the youngster was quick to write off his blistering Test start.

"That six changed nothing in my life. No person can ever be judged by one shot... it's always the kind of knocks he has played."

Having a good two IPLs to his name, Pant has always been known as the slogger (todu), who could create ripples in the shorter format of the game. The reputation has been so widespread that even his first-class cricket’s triple century gets overshadowed at times. But, the middle-order batsman always wanted to be a Test batsman.

"That I could play red-ball cricket was important too. My childhood coach Tarak Sinha always maintained that he would not consider me an international player unless I played Test cricket. To do it in England against such an attack was very important for me," said Pant.

Despite all the early success in life Pant still has the huge pressure of succeeding MS Dhoni in all the three formats of the game. But, he has Virat Kohli to go for guidance, which Pant stated, has helped to clear his perceptions.

"Virat bhaiya told me that playing 50 matches doesn't mean you are experienced. A person with three-four games can be equally experienced if he picks up from others' mistakes," he said.

Travelling to Australia in a few days of time to have another huge series of his career, Pant revealed that he has been in constant touch with coach Ravi Shastri and the support of senior players.

"Ravi sir (coach Shastri) is constantly in touch over the phone. He keeps talking to me about the conditions and how cricket is played in Australia. Rohit (Sharma) bhaiya has told me to give myself some time to settle and then play my game. Mentally, I am already there," he concluded.

Rishabh Pant says he shouldn’t be judged by that Old Trafford six

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