Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant’s journey to success has been full of hurdles. The youngster from Delhi did leave an impact with his aggressive batting in the early days of his career but soon he hit a rough patch and came under scrutiny, especially for his ways of getting out. Be it the cricket experts or fans of the Indian cricket team, criticism came at Pant’s way for his approach on the field.
After going through a tough phase, the 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman made a dynamic comeback during India’s Australia tour. He carried the momentum back home during the England Tests and went on to lead the Delhi Capitals in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 when Shreyas Iyer was out with an injury.
As a DC skipper, he didn’t let the team management down. Under his leadership, the team ended at the top spot on the points table before the tournament was indefinitely postponed. Assistant coach Pravin Amre has observed him closely at the DC camp and believes that Rishabh Pant has matured as a cricketer.
“He is taking responsibility whenever the team needs, likes to be there till the end. He is showing more maturity now as a player. One of the best advantages he had as captain was the good starts given by Shikhar Dhawan, who played his role beautifully, hanging in there, giving starts, also finishing matches. Other batsmen too did their roles like Shimron Hetmyer. You may sometimes lose wickets, but the goal was to win matches. Nobody played for themselves, they played for the team,” Amre told Cricket Next in an interview.
{{/usCountry}}“He is taking responsibility whenever the team needs, likes to be there till the end. He is showing more maturity now as a player. One of the best advantages he had as captain was the good starts given by Shikhar Dhawan, who played his role beautifully, hanging in there, giving starts, also finishing matches. Other batsmen too did their roles like Shimron Hetmyer. You may sometimes lose wickets, but the goal was to win matches. Nobody played for themselves, they played for the team,” Amre told Cricket Next in an interview.
{{/usCountry}}“To be honest, he was busy with Team India. He joined DC at the start of IPL. The head coach is Ricky Ponting, who has known Rishabh for years. It is important that the captain and head coach have a good relationship. My role was very limited. A major role was played by Ricky in handling the team,” Amre further said.
Pant will now be travelling to the United Kingdom with Team India to play the World Test Championship final against New Zealand, which starts on June 18 in Southampton. The Indian team will then square off against the hosts in a five-match Test series in the month of August.