Rishabh Pant gave interesting insight into his mindset during Day 4 of the first Test match between India and England at Headingley, Leeds. Pant, who scored a fine hundred in the first innings, was brought in early on Day 4 after captain Shubman Gill fell early.
Gill lost his wicket to Brydon Carse after putting up eight runs in India’s second innings. Pant came in with India looking to put up a strong lead ahead of England’s chase. While the expectation of ticking the scoreboard is always there with Pant, the situation demanded a calmer approach, one that the Indian wicketkeeper wasn’t initially adhering to. He was then caught on the stump mic speaking to himself. In the commentary booth, Mike Atherton asked Dinesh Karthik to translate what Pant had said.
“First up, he said to himself, if I play with a straight bat, I can still middle it. Don’t try to do too much. He’s almost talking himself into saying he doesn’t need to do anything out of the ordinary. He’s pretty disappointed with what he did, but I hope he listens to himself,” translated Karthik for Pant.
Atherton, after listening to DK’s words, said that Pant’s approach was interesting because there was a battle between managing instinct during his batting.
“I mean, it’s interesting, isn’t it? Because it implies that he’s played so much by instinct that instinct just takes over no matter what he’s telling himself to do,” said Atherton.
Pant, who scored his half century, and KL Rahul steadied the Indian ship after Gill’s loss, and took India’s lead to over 180 runs till the second session of the fourth day. India will be looking to extend their lead at Headingley, a ground where Australia famously kept England a target of 359, which they chased down thanks to a heroic innings from Ben Stokes.
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