The young Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant played a brilliant century knock on the day two of the Sydney Test. Though he was a little nervous and scared at 90’s, he got through that tough phase quickly.
On Friday, the 21-year-old left-handed batsman Pant became the first Asian wicketkeeper-batsman to score a Test century in Australia. The young left-handed batsman played an unbeaten knock of 159 off 189 balls (15 fours and only six) that helped the visitors to 622/7 before declaring their innings.
In the ongoing Australia tour, Pant lost his wicket mostly on 20’s or 30’s. When he was asked that whether those small knocks have forced him to change his batting, he denied that.
Pant said at the end of the day’s play, “I don’t think anything changed from my side. The main thing was that I was playing with a batsman (Jadeja) this time. Most of the time, when I got a start, I was playing with the tail.
“If I am batting with the tail, I have to think differently because most of the time, I have to score the runs. But when you are batting with a batsman, that’s a different thing. You have seen it today.”
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The young Indian cricketer further added that he likes how everyone has provided him with the freedom to express himself on the field.
He added, “The best part of my batting is that everyone in the team has given me freedom to express myself. Every time when I go to bat, I just enjoy myself, that’s the only thing I love to do.”
After scoring his first Test century (114) at The Oval in last September, Pant was dismissed on 92 runs in back-to-back two next innings. Talking about his 159 runs knock, Pant admitted that he was little nervous and scared at 90’s.
He said, “To be honest, I was a little nervous, because in India when we were playing West Indies, in the last two innings, I got out on 92 and 92. So I was scared slightly but I got through that phase quickly.”
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The young wicketkeeper-batsman claimed that every century in international cricket is special for him but his main focus is – what the team needs from him.
Pant said, “Every hundred I score in international cricket is special for me because I have just started my career. But the main thing is that I don’t think about hundreds. I just always think about only one thing – what the team needs from me. That’s the only goal I have.”
Talking about moving from the hard phase, Pant said about the learning proves from everyone.
He said, “Obviously, you can learn from anyone when you are going through a bad phase. It’s a learning process when you are playing cricket. Till such time that you are playing cricket, the learning process continues. If you use that experience and implement in the match, then the performances flow and you get out of the hard phase.”
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After India declared their first innings on 622/7, Australia scored 24/0 at the end of day two. In the third over of Australian first innings, Pant dropped an opportunity of the Aussie opener Usman Khawaja who didn’t open his account at that time.
Talking about that, Pant said, “As a wicketkeeper, we look forward to only one thing – to be positive because this is not a one-ball game. You have to be on the field till you get the opposition out. So you have to be positive because if the next chance comes and you don’t grab that, your morale will go down even more I guess. So you have to positive all the time,”
