Very recently upon his arrival in the USA, Rishabh Pant declared in no uncertain terms that his team India are hunting for the biggest prize in the world of T20 cricket.
Moreover, he also made it clear that the entirety of the unit has been practicing towards it ever since the 2024 IPL began.
And yet, at the same time he directed some attention to the fans by requesting them to trust the ‘process’ the team has been following in its pursuit of a could-be second ICC T20 World Cup crown; the first coming way back in 2007, where Rishabh Pant wasn’t even a regular first class cricket, let alone making it to the Indian team.
Now, fact be told, the die hard Indian Cricket fan has been waiting a great while to see his most loved team hold aloft a big ICC trophy; the last time it won an ICC event was a little over a decade back in time, in 2013, to be precise.
In that sense, the fan being a bit hyper and being often, irrational his emoting of passionate thoughts regarding the team over social media is understood, if not always just.
But what the fan must not undermine in any sense of the word, is that someone like Rishabh Pant has come a great deal over the course of the last few months.
To put it simply, here is a cricketer who was far flung from the hectic demands of international cricket for well over a year, nursing a near life ending injury for several months together having tackled a literal brush with death.
From the harrowing scenes of a car supremely wrecked and its bits blown to pieces to seeing its survivor making little progress in the hospital room to ultimately donning the gloves and wielding the bat for Delhi Capitals as seen in the Indian Premier League, Pant’s progress has been sterling akin to his game changing skills with the bat.
In a sport where motivational stories are narrated with the hope to guide cricketers to success and where self confidence of an athlete is perhaps as big a currency as is T20 itself to Cricket, Rishabh Pant is looking in good shape ahead of India’s debut game.
That’s not only down to the fact that Pant managed no fewer than 446 runs from just 13 innings at a mighty respectable average of 40 (s/r of 155), but also because of the measured approach with which he’s expressing his thoughts.
He is neither talking like a loose cannon about India’s chances in the checkered tournament and nor is he keeping eerily mum when asked about his perspective on the same. What’s rather interesting, in some sense, is that the selection of the much loved and highly followed Sanju Samson, often a sentimental favourite of the fan, is somewhere going to keep Rishabh Pant on his toes.
But how so?
For argument’s sake, should Pant misfire with the bat on a couple of occasions in a tournament where India are expected to emerge among the final four, at the very least, the Delhi lad will know that his place would, in all likelihood, go to Samson.
This will not only keep the left hander highly motivated to up the ante of runs but also protect his space in a squad, which has accepted Pant’s return with much glee.
Having said that, it’ll keep Team India in good stead with some of the most prominent stroke makers up the order already in fine knick, especially a certain Virat Kohli.
On the whole, Pant will be expected to look at the opening clash against Ireland as no small opportunity to excel; last time around where the two teams squared off in the format, Pant was on the recovery bed.
This time around, he’s expected to give the white ball a good whack. What’s awesomely exciting is that neither has Rishabh Pant ever played Ireland nor has he played a T20 world cup contest before in the Caribbean. But there are a few things to celebrate, one of which being his 1000th run in an Indian jersey; the dynamic batsman being just 13 shy from that significant milestone (56 innings as on date).