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Rishabh Pant reacts after fans chant his name in MS Dhoni’s ‘home’ Chennai
Indian wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant expressed his gratitude after the Chennai crowd chanted his name during the 1st ODI against West Indies.
In ‘Thala’ MS Dhoni territory, Rishabh Pant found his form. In Dhoni’s very own Chennai, Pant made the crowd chant his name and in his territory, he finally served a reminder about his worth and pedigree. When he rocked up to the crease, India were three down - KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were back in the pavilion, the pitch was a usual Chennai one – a bit sluggish, a bit slow, sometimes even a bit two-paced. But Pant did not let anything get in his way. He showed restraint and took his time but yet managed to score at a fair clip.
Pant hit his maiden half-century in ODIs and scored 71 runs off 69 balls. He shared a a crucial partnership of 114 runs with Shreyas Iyer (70), to help India post a 288-run target at a sluggish wicket. However, their efforts went in vain as Shimron Hetmyer (139) and Shai Hope (102) scored blistering centuries and helped the visitors chase down the total with 13 balls to spare.
During the course of his innings on Sunday, a section of crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium chanted ‘Pant, Pant’ in order to encourage him. This was in contradiction to the earlier incidents where fans used to chant the name of ‘Dhoni’ in previous games whenever Pant faltered on the field.
“Sometimes it is important when crowd support you because as an individual I was thinking of scoring big runs but I was not getting there. I’m not saying I got there but I’m just trying to improve everyday. As a team point of view, whatever I can do to help my team win and to have a good score on the scoreboard that’s what I was focusing and in the end I got some runs,” said Pant.
“Personally, if I play for India every inning is important for me. As a youngster, I just want to learn and improve myself each and every day of cricket I’m playing,” he added.
“There is nothing like the natural game you have to bat according to the situation or team demand. You can only be good if you bat according to the situation. I want to focus on my process as a player. You have to believe in yourself. I’m only focusing on what I can do whatever team management decides is good for the team,” Pant said.
(With agency inputs)
