There was no pressure so why would I feel relieved, Rishabh Pant after hitting form

Delhi batsman Rishabh Pant hit back in form with a crucial knock of 99 during the Delhi v Maharashtra Ranji Trophy game at the Palam Airforce Sports Complex in Delhi. The top three batsmen had failed to make a mark and Delhi were in a fix until Pant teamed up with Nitish Rana and brought Delhi back into the game. His 110-ball 99 and Rana’s unbeaten hundred took Delhi to 260 for 4 on a weather-hit day.

After an incredible domestic season in 2015-16, Pant was rewarded with an India call-up and featured in 2 T20Is. However, in the first game, he did not get a chance to do much and in the second, he only managed to go at run-a-ball in a big defeat for India against West Indies. His poor form continued even on India A’s tour to South Africa and a result he was off the selector’s radar for T20Is against Australia and New Zealand.

No pressure

After this innings, he was asked if he felt relief that he was back among the runs, Pant said, “There was no pressure, so why will I feel relieved? This is cricket. You have good days, you have bad days. You can’t afford to put yourself under too much pressure and risk ruining your future games too. There will be days when you will score runs, there will be days when you won’t. This is a part of a cricketer’s life.”

He credited his mature and positive approach to the seniors around him as Pant said that they have helped him in this regard.

“You get to learn from seniors,” he said, as reported by ESPNCricinfo. “Whatever time I spent in the Indian team, I learnt. Here, too, there is Gauti bhaiya [Gambhir, who has first-hand experience of insecurities as a young cricketer] and Ishant bhaiya [Ishant Sharma, who is now the Delhi captain]. There is no minimum age to learn these things. The sooner you learn, the sooner you will grow as a cricketer.”

Despite the failures in the last few months, Pant did not look to do anything that would tweak his natural game or his technique since there wasn’t a pattern of dismissals that demanded him to make changes in his style of play.

“The game that has got you runs, if you stick to it, you give yourself the best chance to keep scoring runs,” he said. “Rather than running after changes, stay positive and back your game. I used to feel bad that I was not actually putting the runs on the board, but there was no special pattern to my dismissals, which might make me change my game,” Pant concluded.

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