“It does get to you sometimes” – Rishabh Pant on dealing with criticism
A flamboyant cricketer, who attacks with the bat with no half measures, it becomes easy to misread Rishabh Pant’s outer demeanour and deem him a player who doesn’t think much.
But the Indian wicketkeeper-batter feels disappointed about such characterisation from outside and says his naturally aggressive avatar shouldn’t be mistaken for carelessness.
Speaking to the Times of India, the youngster admitted that such tags and outside noise around his performances “does get to you sometimes” and contrary to the perceptions, he does keep his thinking cap on more often than not.
“I am not worried about people passing comments on me now. But it does get to you sometimes,” Rishabh Pant said. “You have to look in the mirror and check if you had done your process right – like diet, training, recovery.”
“There are so many distractions at the international level, it’s difficult to do that. I think about my cricket and the game a lot because that’s what I have always loved to do. You need to filter things and see what you can do to improve as a human being,” added the 24-year-old rising star.
Also Read – The Audacious Extremes Of Rishabh Pant
Risbabh Pant will be in action as captain for Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2022.
“Honour” to carry expectations – Rishabh Pant
Despite being a naturally attacking player, who can be accused of going overboard with it at times, Rishabh Pant has reserved his best at the Test match level. The young gun has been tremendous with the bat over the last couple of seasons. Since making his comeback to the Test playing XI in December 2020, Pant has piled on 1,106 runs at 42.53 in what is essentially a bowling era.
With regular game time, he has also taken his glovework to the next level, securing his spot once and for all as India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter.
But with greater consistency and performances have come greater expectations of the fans, who turn into foes and critics the moment Pant falters and goes wrong on the field. The batter, however, says it is an “honour” to see people expect things out of him, for it shows he is doing a few things right with his game.
“It’s an honour for me. If people are expecting things from me, that means I am doing something good in life,” he said. “It’s a challenge to not focus on the expectations. When you become a captain then it’s not about yourself. You have to see how new people are gelling with the team, if they are comfortable. You have to learn from different people and share your knowledge with everyone.”
An upbeat Rishabh Pant is now set to lead Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL 2022 after tasting reasonable success as new skipper in the league’s last edition. Pant replaced an injured Shreyas Iyer and stayed at the helm even as the experienced batter recovered for the UAE leg of the IPL 2021.
DC reached the playoffs for successive seasons before losing the second Qualifier to eventual runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
They begin their campaign in IPL 2022 with a clash against five-time winners Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday (March 27).