During India’s eight-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the first Test at Bengaluru, Rishabh Pant’s stunning knock of 99 in the second innings was one of the positives. He faced a blow on his knee while keeping in the first innings and yet, came to bat to give India a fighting chance as well. However, he didn’t keep as India’s team management carefully managed his workload. And, captain Rohit Sharma felt that it was important to manage Rishabh Pant’s fitness, considering the nature of the injury.
“Yeah, look, about his [Rishabh Pant] injury, I think he had a massive operation on his leg. So, we all know what he went through,” said Rohit Sharma at the post-match press conference. “So, it’s just to be a little careful about where he is at and what he is to us. Even when he was batting, he was not comfortably running. He was trying to only put the ball in the stands. But, again, with someone like him, we just need to be extra careful. Because he has had a lot of minor surgeries, one big surgery on his knee. And he went through a lot of trauma, to be honest, in the last one and a half years. So, it’s just about being extra careful, not careful with him. So, when you are keeping, you have to bend every ball with your knee going down. And the wicket being what it was, we thought it is the right thing to do for him to stay inside and then get 100% ready for the next one.”
While he looked to be in pain and unable to move freely as he would have liked to, his natural style of batting was shown as he took on New Zealand’s bowlers with ease. The left-hander also slog-swept the ball against Tim Southee which went out of the stadium as well. However, Pant eventually got out on 99.
ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya shares happiness after winning back the love of fans
“No one knows what goes in his [Pant] mind, to be honest. He decides what he wants to do. And that is the kind of freedom also we want to give it to him. Because he has produced performances with that mindset. So, I don’t think there is anything that you need to speak to him. We spoke to him about, please understand the situation and stuff like that. But that’s Rishabh. He wants to play in a certain way. And then as a captain, as a coach, we want to back that. Because like I said, he has produced results for us having that mindset. So, let him go and play freely,” he again shared.
However, there is only a three-day gap before the second Test that starts in Pune but Rishabh Pant is likely to recover fully in time for the game as well. Rohit also shared that Shubman Gill, who missed the Bengaluru Test with a neck sprain, has progressed positively to be in contention for the next Test as well.
“It was unfortunate that Shubman missed this game. And Sarfaraz took that opportunity, got a big 100. It’s a good sign for the team. Shubman seems okay at this point in time,” Rohit Sharma concluded.
