Young India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant said that at Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Capitals, coach Ricky Ponting has given him licence to be his attacking self.
“He gives me a free hand. He says do ‘whatever you want to do,’” Pant said during an Instagram chat with his franchise.
He also called the IPL 2018 season a “life-changing” one. Pant had scored over 650 runs in 14 matches that season at 52.61 and a strike rate of 158.41, laced with six half-centuries.
“That was a life-changing season for me. I needed that breakthrough which everyone needs,” he said.
“The core group always thinks of winning IPL for Delhi. We qualified for the knockouts last time and came third.”
Speaking about his idol Adam Gilchrist, Pant said: “Over a period of time I have realised that you have to learn from your idol but you don’t have to copy him. You learn things which you like and can implement in life and cricket. You need to have your own identity.”
He also spoke about the challenges of playing Test cricket. “I love playing Tests. You can give yourself time. You end up testing yourself. When I was playing four-day first-class games, I had heard it is the real test but when I played five-day cricket... it was like you need to put in that extra effort.”
The 22-year-old was picked ahead of veteran stumper Wriddhiman Saha in the two Tests which India lost in New Zealand. Recalling his early days of struggle, the Roorkee-born Pant said he used to take a bus at 2am to arrive in New Delhi for practice.
“They [Uttarakhand] did not have a cricket team at that point. So I used to take bus at 2am. That time, it used to take six hours by road. It was difficult during winters as it was too cold. There was fog as well. It’s been a good journey [now that I look back at it].
“At the end of the day, you have to work hard to achieve your goal,” said Pant. The left-hander has featured in 13 Tests, 16 ODIs and 28 T20Is so far.
Pant said that seniors such as MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan help him a lot along with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina.