IND vs SL 2022 | ‘I used to think too much, now I’m only focusing on every ball,’ says Rishabh Pant
After scoring 185 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 120.13, Rishabh Pant was adjudged the Player of the Series in India's recently concluded Test series against Sri Lanka. Pant admitted that he had made mistakes in the past, but they have only helped him evolve as a Test cricketer.
India’s wicket keeper-batter Rishabh Pant admitted that he had made a few mistakes in the past while batting in Test matches, but he has been learning from them and seeking to improve with every match he features. Pant was adjudged the Player of the Series, as India completed a 2-0 sweep of the Test series against Sri Lanka after winning the pink-ball Test in Bengaluru by 238 runs inside three days.
Pant starred with the bat and the gloves as he aggregated 185 runs in three innings, including 2 half-centuries. In the first Test, Pant smashed a quickfire 97-ball 96 to change the course of the match, while he hit a 28-ball fifty in the 2nd innings of the Pink-ball Test, that helped India set an improbable 447-run target for Sri Lanka.
Pant has been guilty of throwing his wickets away in the past, but ever since the Australia tour last year, he has exhibited a much-improved controlled aggression. He is India's highest run-getter in Test cricket since the start of 2021, scoring 1077 runs at an average of 43.08 with two hundreds and seven fifties in the said period. Pant has also struck them at a staggering strike rate of 71.89.
Pant, while speaking to the post-match presentation, said, "I think both batting and wicket keeping, you need to keep evolving, I've made mistakes in the past and want to keep improving. It's not in my mindset, the wicket was difficult to play, so I thought I will look for quick runs.
"I'll do whatever the team management wants me to do," he added.
Pant was also involved in three stumpings and 2 catches, and made sure Inda did not concede extras behind the stumps with his incredibly improved keeping with the big gloves.
"I think it's more about confidence. I used to think too much about what I might miss. Now I am focusing on my process," he concluded while speaking about his development in keeping.