India’s Rishabh Pant bats during play on the first day of the fifth cricket test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Rishabh Pant on Friday revealed the reason behind his uncharacteristic innings in Sydney where the wicket-keeper batter showed remarkable restraint, scoring 40 runs off 98 deliveries.
“I think in this innings, I was not in a frame of mind where I wanted to take charge of the game because the wicket was doing too much and the kind of situation we were in,” Pant said in the post-day press meet.
“I would say there might be a 50-50 chance which I could have taken early on in this innings but sometimes you have to play more secure cricket especially the way, wicket was behaving. We knew that if we lost one more wicket here, we might lose 2-3 in quick succession. So that was the idea behind the way I was playing,” he added.
He also reflected on his dismissals in crucial moments of the 4th Test in Melbourne which led to the Australians coming back into the match and eventually winning it. His aggressive approach in those games saw the player come under severe criticism from the likes of Sunil Gavaskar.
“Yes, there is a time to attack, but when you have to feel that from inside. I can’t just premeditate that I’m going to play this way. Whatever the game asked me to do on a given day, that’s what I tried to do and that is the mindset,” Pant said on Friday.
“It is a natural habit to back whatever the way you have played the game. But eventually you got to keep on evolving and, that is, I feel there is not one way to play cricket. But whatever comes more naturally is always better but you got to find that balance between playing aggressive cricket and having that balance when you play all those shots. That’s what I’m trying to do,” he added.
India ultimately posted 185 runs in the 1st innings with Pant being the top-scorer while Australia ended the day at 9/1 with Usman Khawaja sent back to the pavilion by Jasprit Bumrah at the end of Day 1 of the 5th and final Border Gavaskar Trophy test.
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