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Dravid’s discipline, Kohli’s aggression inspires teen star Rishabh Pant
KOLKATA: A Virender Sehwag tweet is the equivalent of a testimonial these days. At 19, Rishabh Pant is the youngest to get one. Pant knows the tweet’s significance.
KOLKATA: A Virender Sehwag tweet is the equivalent of a testimonial these days. At 19, Rishabh Pant is the youngest to get one. Pant knows the tweet’s significance. “When Viru paa has tweeted about you, you know you have done something right,” Pant told HT from Delhi, a day before he was to leave for Kolkata for their Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka.
Pant made his Ranji debut against Bengal a year ago. In 12 months, he has logged numbers that indicate there is something special about him.
In 11 one-dayers played in the under-19 level, Pant’s scores were 51, 26, 4, 71, 35, 6, 57, 78, 111, 14 and 1. The day he got his maiden century , against Namibia in the World Cup, Pant was picked for a hefty R1.9 crore by the Delhi Daredevils at the IPL auctions. None of his U-19 mates selected in the IPL got past the base mark of `10 lakh.
In the four Ranji Trophy matches he has played so far, Pant has already scored a fifty (57 against Bengal), a big hundred (146 against Assam) and now, a triple century (308) that almost brought Delhi close to Maharashtra’s mammoth first innings of 635. Something about these records suggests this wicket-keeper batsman is close to exploding on to the scene any day. But Pant doesn’t think too far ahead. Ask him a question that’s a little longer perhaps and Pant shoots back saying ‘bhaiya woh last line samajh nahi aayi’ (I didn’t understand that last line). After meandering his way through Roorkee and Rajasthan before finally settling in Delhi, Pant likes to keep his life clean and simple, with a crystal-clear attitude towards batting --- if it’s in my zone, I will hit it.
“I don’t think much but I do set targets for myself. My job is to score runs and I will try to do that only,” said Pant.
Pant has been lucky with his coaches too. Not only did he get Sinha in his formative years, Pant also got Rahul Dravid as his U-19 coach and then as mentor when he was with Delhi Daredevils this year. “You can’t ignore Rahul sir’s significance. But I try to imbibe different things from different people. With Rahul sir, it’s his discipline. With Viru paa, it’s his aggression,” said Pant.
When it comes to aggression, though, Pant seems most smitten by Virat Kohli. “Virat bhai’s aggression is something I admire. I like his energy level. The way bhaiya pushes himself is amazing. We tell ourselves if he can score consistently at that level, why can’t we.”
