Indian skipper Virat Kohli has put his weight behind under-fire Rishabh Pant to come out with improved performances in the upcoming matches.
Pant has come under the scrutiny for his rash shot which he played against Kagiso Rabada in the second dig of the second Test match at the Wanderers, Johannesburg.
Pant decided to prance down the wicket to Proteas gun fast bowler and he could only manage an outside edge to Kyle Verreynne and was dismissed for a duck. Consequently, Pant has been criticised by a lot of cricket pundits for his poor shot.
Kohli reckons we all get dismissed either due to pressure or bowler’s skills and he is hopeful that Pant will learn from his mistake and will show more maturity in his shot selection in the Cape Town Test.
“We had a conversation with Rishabh during practice. The shot that a batsman plays to get out, he is the first to know whether it was right according to the situation or not… We all have made mistakes in our careers in important situations.
“We have all got out, sometimes due to pressure, sometimes due to the bowler’s skill. It’s very important to understand what was the mindset at that moment, what decision you took and what was your mistake there. As long as we keep accepting our mistakes, we will improve and make sure that we don’t repeat those,” said Kohli in the pre-match presser.
On the other hand, Kohli also recalled the advice which he received from former skipper MS Dhoni. The former wicket-keeper captain told Kohli to try to not repeat a mistake for seven to eight months in order to have a long International career.
“I have talked about this many times that MS Dhoni told me that there should be a gap of 7-8 months between two mistakes, then only you have a big career in international cricket.”
“So that thing stuck to my system that I won’t make the same mistake again and again and that only happens when you reflect upon your mistakes which I know Rishabh does and he’ll definitely keep improving in the future. He’ll make sure to stand up for the team, put up big performances in important situations and continue to learn from his mistakes,” Kohli further said.
In fact, since the WTC Final against New Zealand, Rishabh Pant has scored only 250 runs in his last 13 innings at a meagre average of 19.23 and he would aim to make a solid comeback.
