India vs England: Glad I have learnt from my mistakes and capitalised on opportunities after that, says Rishabh Pant

Nottingham: The supremely talented Rishabh Pant is glad that he has seen a lot of “ups and downs” and evolved as a player, having “learnt from his mistakes” in his short but eventful international career. Pant, who recently recovered from COVID-19, is fit and ready to play his 22nd Test for India at the very same venue (Trent Bridge), where he had announced his arrival in the Test match arena with a huge six in 2018. “It’s been an amazing journey as I have seen lots ups and downs early in my career. As cricketers, you evolve, learn from your mistakes and improve yourself and come back to the ground and perform well. “I am glad that I have learnt from my mistakes and capitalised on whatever opportunities I got after that. I am happy,” Pant told BCCI.tv on Saturday. Pant said that he is trying to learn from everyone in the leadership group in order to become a better player. “I talk to Rohit bhai a lot — like talking about the game as what we have done in previous matches and what we could have done. Also what we should look to do and look at possible outcomes in future games. What all I can add to my game. “I also take technical inputs from Virat bhai. Especially playing in England, standing up to stumps or going back,” said the 23-year-old man from Roorkee. He wants to pick everyone’s brains in order to become better. “I speak to Ravi bhai (Shastri) a lot as he has played enough cricket all over the world. Ash bhai (Ashwin), when he bowls, he has an idea of what the batsman’s intentions are. “So as a batsman, I can ask the bowler as to what he is thinking. As a player, I want to learn from each and every person.” With 1400 plus runs at an average of 43 plus and three hundreds with another 83 dismissals with the gloves, Pant’s certainly one of the world’s finest young players, who had played a crucial role in helping India win the Test series against Australia earlier this year. To top it, he also had a stellar role during the home Test series against England, where he played an audacious reverse sweep off Jimmy Anderson. It all boils down to one’s “processes”, he says. “I think as a cricketer, I have evolved in the last one year or so, because (even though) you keep doing your processes right, you don’t get results but if you have trust in your process and keep doing that again and again. “I have been trusting my process and I am getting the results and that’s the happy part now.” He remembers how he called up his coach Tarak Sinha to inform him about his Test debut back in 2018. “I was only 19, when I got an opportunity to play Test cricket. My debut was in Nottingham. It was a dream come true as my coach Tarak Sinha sir told me that ‘If you are not a Test player, I don’t count you as an international player’. “So when I was picked for the Test match, I called him up and said ‘Sir, I have fulfilled your dream’. That was a happy moment and then I got a hundred at Oval,” he fondly recollected. Playing in England has its own sets of challenges and Pant believes that shuffling stance — batting outside the crease to counter the swing does help his game. “In England, you have to keep in mind that ball will swing a lot. I have been standing outside the crease and using crease in and out as well. “Especially in these sort of conditions, you have to respect the bowlers a bit more than you do in other places. That’s what I am looking to do as a batsman in Test matches,” he concluded.