Century in Sydney shows Rishabh Pant’s Test cricket education is proceeding at a rapid pace

Sometimes, it is easy to forget that Rishabh Pant is just 21. His confidence, the manner in which he seems to shrug off disappointments, the way he holds his own against the opposition and the sheer disdain for the bowling make him seem like an experienced bloke who has earned his scars in the middle.

But then again, there are times when his inexperience tells its own story. He plays into the hands of his aggression and tries to slam every ball into the stands, his ‘keeping seems clumsy as does his catching and his sledging is nothing but cute.

However, what he knows and what he doesn’t is a direct consequence of the time he has spent on the field.

Read: Rishabh Pant goes past MS Dhoni during his swashbuckling 159* and other stats here.

Head-start for the youngster

In India, players tend to start early. For instance, in January 2001, Cheteshwar Pujara, aged 12, scored 306* off 516 balls in 540 mins (9 hours) in a West Zone Under-14 tournament. Virat Kohli made his first-class debut in 2006 at the age of 17. Sachin Tendulkar made his debut even earlier. The same is true of many others who shine at the Under-19 level.

That early debut establishes their potential but by no means does it mean that their cricketing education is complete. Rahul Dravid, who has mentored India’s U-19 and ‘A’ teams for a while now has always tried to expose the youngsters to as many different situations as possible at the age group level. But still, there is only so much you can do at the junior level.

Once you do make the transition to the senior level, the grizzled veterans come at you in a very different manner. It hasn’t fazed Pant, who made his first-class debut only in October 2015, in the least but it’s not like he hasn’t made mistakes.

During the India ‘A’ tour of England in July 2018, Dravid tried to get him to read the match situation better before playing his shots.

“He showed that he could bat differently. He has the temperament and skills to bat differently. He is always going to be an attacking player but reading of the situation when you are playing red ball cricket is required,” Dravid had told the BCCI website.

Learning from mistakes

Yes, there are still times when he doesn’t quite understand the match situation. The collapse in the first Test at Adelaide comes to mind instantly. The batsmen were looking for quick runs but his wicket came at an ill-advised time and an avoidable shot. Nathan Lyon, in particular, seemed to be able to play with Pant’s ‘big-hitter’ ego.

The grounds in Australia are bigger than the ones in India and that just means the batsman needs to hit the ball a little better.

But on the second day of the fourth Test against Australia, he channeled his inner zen to help India into a virtually unbeatable position.

The manner in which he worked the ball away for ones and twos was particularly impressive early on. With Pujara batting well at the other end, Pant needed to play the steady hand and he did just that. There was the odd rush-of-blood but he then would recalibrate quickly.

He seemed to be more selective with his shots, realising that he needed to stay there in the middle. India had just lost Hanuma Vihari with the total on 329. A solid enough start but nowhere close to shutting Australia out of the match.

The 89 runs Pant added with Pujara got India into a stronger position and the 204-run stand with Jadeja has now practically put the match beyond Australia.

Natural stroke-player

Pant finished with a very quick, unbeaten 159 off 189 balls but for most part, he didn’t even look like he was trying too hard. The eventual strike-rate of his innings was 84.13. Yes, the batting conditions were great and Australia had been pounded into the ground but Pant made it much tougher for the hosts. By the time, the Indian innings ended, the Australian team looked crestfallen.

If India’s top order can get its act together consistently, this guy can be so dangerous down the order. He already has two centuries — one in England and one in Australia — and that is two more than Mahendra Singh Dhoni did in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia combined.

Pant has already scored more runs in four Tests in Australia than Dhoni did in nine.

Room to improve behind the stumps

But while his presence in the line-up will only make India’s batting stronger, Dhoni and Wriddhiman Saha were calm and collected behind the stumps. Pant, even with his record 20 catches in the series, doesn’t quite give the same kind of assurance.

Time and again, we have seen Pant’s right foot goes to the right when the ball seems to be going the other way. That tiny movement causes him to reach the ball a split-second late. Other experts have pointed out the position of his fingers isn’t right either. Some more have said, he rises up too early to the spinners.

But he has been hard at work on his ‘keeping skills too. Just before the West Indies tour, he spent three days with former India keeper Kiran More trying to understand his failings and he does seem to be getting better.

However, getting better at keeping isn’t going to be like his batting, which has always been his strong suit. He will learn his batting lessons faster but to become a truly good Test cricketer, he will need to work on his keeping for a long time. The dropped catches may not have hurt India on this tour but against sterner opposition, it might be the difference.

Pant isn’t a complete cricketer. He is far from it but there is so much potential there that if he manages to harness it; if he keeps working hard, he could well end up as one of the legends of the game.

So far, he’s shown all the right signs but the difficult part will be to keep at it. For now, we can relish the fact that he has virtually sealed India’s first ever series triumph in Australia.