Rishabh Pant has said that the elevation to vice-captain of the team will not really be reflected in a changed mindset with the bat. Pant is deputy to Shubman Gill as India get set to play a five-Test series in England. The series comes right on the heels of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirements, which means Pant will be among the more senior members in a relatively inexperienced Indian squad.
“Personally, I am in a good head space,” Pant told the media. “See, it’s an added responsibility but when you are in the middle you are not thinking, oh! I am the vice-captain, I am the senior player etc. You are just a batsman in between, and you got to do the best for your side. So, I haven’t changed my mindset. I’ve got more authority now but at the same time I’m not thinking about it too much.”
‘In England you need to play a little side-on’
Pant also said that he has made a technical tweak to his batting stance to deal with the conditions in England. He comes into the series on the back of some shaky form in all formats, compared to his lofty standards in the case of Test cricket. He averaged 36 across 17 Test innings last year and then endured a rather disastrous season in the IPL, scoring just 269 runs at an average of 24.45 and strike rate of 133.16. 118 of those runs came in just one innings as he scored a century in Lucknow Super Giants’ last match of the season.
“I think mostly it’s (changes) mental, a little bit of technical too. It is like in one-day and T20s you have to open up your stance because of the kind of shots you want to play,” Pant said.
“At the same time coming to England you got to play a little side-on and that really helps. That’s the basic technical thing which I have shifted, other than that it’s just the mindset thing,” he added.
At the same time, Pant has a good record in England, as is the case for him in most countries where he has played Test cricket. Pant has scored 556 runs from 9 Tests at an average of 32.70 with two hundreds and as many fifties. Pant said that it is his responsibility to help out some of the younger players who are touring England for the first time. “It’s a responsibility to share your knowledge, your experience with new players, youngsters coming to the team but at the same time not focusing on that senior part too much. You still have to play the game, you still have to learn the game as an individual and keep helping people around you, that’s how I look at it,” he said.