India batting coach reveals Rishabh Pant’s mindset behind fearless batting approach, says ‘he talks a lot about his batting…’

New Delhi: Speaking on Rishabh Pant, India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak revealed details as how the wicketkeeper-batter handled red-ball cricket in the ongoing England Test series. Kotak said that Pant was finding the right balance between his attacking brand and demands of Test cricket and it was a sign of his increasing maturity and adaptation to read the situations of the game.

Rishabh Pant was in sizzling form at the first Test at Headingley, scoring hundreds in both innings. He thumped a counter-attacking 134 off 178 balls in the first innings, and backed it up by a stylish 118 not out off 140 in the second. But then, even after his spellbinding performance, India was on the losing end. Pant carried on his excellent form in the second Test at Edgbaston though his runs were modest in the first innings, scoring 25, but he came in the second and smashed 65 off 58 balls, an important and second entertaining innings.

Rishabh Pant’s smart batting plans

Kotak has revealed that Pant does speak much about his batting plans, as well as the strategies he might use in the game, but once he gets onto the field, he shuts out all the off-field conversations to focus all his attention on the game. The batting coach also lauded the technique that Pant practices at the wicket, as the player does not need to think much and can only focus on being in the present moment and just play to his best.

“Rishabh actually talks a lot about what he does, when he does, why he does. But he is someone who doesn’t like to talk too much during his innings because he feels that it changes his mindset and he takes the wrong decisions. That’s only when he’s batting. Apart from that, he talks about other batters also. He makes proper planning. It’s not easy to score hundreds without any planning,” Kotak said in the press conference.

Rishabh Pant brings controlled aggression in the team

Kotak has pointed out that the youngsters such as Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal bring in controlled aggression in the team and they turn the whole game around with their dashing style of playing. He admitted that their pace of attacking, sometimes, fails to work, but it is based on intelligent planning and when it works successfully, then it can just swing the momentum back into the Indian camp.

“Every team will have some aggressive players, who are very good at breaking opposition’s momentum. Someone like Jaiswal, who plays the way he plays, someone like Rishabh. But, that does not mean that he doesn’t think. He does think and takes decisions. When it goes wrong, it looks bad. But when it goes right, people are happy,” he added.

News