Indian wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant on Monday (4th April) talked about the ‘low phase’ in his career. He said it was a hard time for him but he kept believing in himself.
Rishabh Pant's journey so far in international cricket has been a roller-coaster ride. Since MS Dhoni’s last match for India in the semi-final of the World Cup 2019, the young wicketkeeper-batter saw himself in the firing line for his poor keeping skills, fitness issues, and inconsistent batting. He was then later dropped from India's limited-overs set-up.
However, his turnaround was one of the most remarkable ones being witnessed in the history of Indian cricket. The southpaw was one of the main reasons behind India’s triumph over Australia down under in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and then later dominated England across all formats at home and was the main reason behind Team India reaching the finals of the inaugural WTC final.
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Pant then had a decent series in England and South Africa, where he scored a century and became the only Indian wicketkeeper to score tons in Australia, England and South Africa in Tests. He has lately developed himself into one of the main players for India in all the formats.
Speaking to The Week magazine, Rishabh Pant recalled the lean patch in his career. Calling it a hard time, the keeper-batter said that he shut out everyone and was only talking to Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni a bit.
"It was a hard time and I shut out everyone. It was difficult for me to go to many people. I only believed in myself; I wanted to prove myself to the world. I did not want to think negative thoughts. I was waiting for my chance. I was talking to Rohit [Sharma] bhai and Mahi bhai a little bit. But mostly I kept believing in myself," Pant said.
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Pant said that scoring a half-century against England at Lord’s did a lot of good to him. He remarked that he doesn’t think much about the landmarks and plays on the merit of the ball.
"It was obviously very challenging. That was a low phase in my life. You feel good when you come from hard times and play like that (series in England where he scored 50 off 101). But, at the same time, I do not think of either [fifties] too much. I just play on the merit of the ball. [However,] I did find that I could control my instincts better," he said.
Pant is currently captaining Delhi Capitals at the IPL 2022. Under him, the franchise so far has won one match and lost one. They will next face LSG on 7th April in Mumbai.
(The Week magazine inputs)
