I Am Not Here To Compete With Anyone: Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant has finally started to justify all the hypes.  The highly-rated youngster is showing his immense potential with each passing game for India. That Pant is destined for greater things was very much clear when he dazzled in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup and followed it up with a stunning domestic season, where he scored over 800 runs including a triple-century.

The 2017 was not a great year by his standards and he is making amends for it in 2018 in style. Pant ended this year’s IPL as the second highest run-getter with 684 runs from 14 games. It included five fifties and one century.

He soon found a place in India A squad for the England tour where he impressed as well. It paved his way for Test call-up, and he made a big impression again. The southpaw got off the mark in Tests with a six before scoring a stunning century in the final Test.

It was followed by a blistering 84-ball 92 runs knock against Windies in the first Test. The knock paved the way for his maiden ODI call up.  He recently scored an impressive fifty in the final T20I against Windies.

But throughout his short career, Pant has been seen by many as a slogger. However, the recent outings have surely made many believe that Pant could play red-ball cricket too. And the youngster is a relieved man now.

“That I could play red-ball cricket was important too. My childhood coach Tarak Sinha always maintained that he would not consider me an international player unless I played Test cricket,” Pant told TOI.

He further said that he is not competing for the sole wicketkeeping slot in the team and is more focussed on learning.

“I am not here to compete with anyone. For me, this phase is all about learning. I keep going up to Mahi bhai and pick up things.”

In this cricket-obsessed nation, success in the game brings a huge popularity. The popularity especially on social media could distract the youngsters. However, Pant insists he has learnt how to deal with it.

“Social media is a part of everyone’s life. You can’t ignore it. But I have learnt to keep off-field hype back in my room. And it doesn’t matter if you have played 500 international matches, you are bound to be nervous when you take the field and I believe that’s a good thing,” he added.

Rishabh Pant will now have some busy days ahead due to the tour of Australia. He is a part of the team for all the formats and is likely to feature heavily. When asked about the preparations, he said:

“Ravi sir (coach Shastri) is constantly in touch over the phone. He keeps talking to me about the conditions and how cricket is played in Australia. Rohit (Sharma) bhaiya has told me to give myself some time to settle and then play my game. Mentally, I am already there.”