London: Half an hour prior to the start of India’s innings on Friday afternoon, Rishabh Pant headed to the practice area at Lord’s. He batted for a good 30 minutes in the nets.The practice area is adjacent to the main ground here and many spectators thronged the area. One of the fans screamed, “Pant bhai , are you okay?” Pant, who was getting ready to face another delivery, replied, “Try kar raha hoon. Woh hi check kar rahe hain (I’m trying. That’s what I’m checking).”Pant’s left index finger, which took a blow from a Jasprit Bumrah delivery on the first day of the match, was still hurting. With every shot in the nets, he was heard grunting cuss words. The concerned throwdown specialists and support staff tried to ask him if he was in pain. Pant warned them sternly, “Nobody will ask me about the pain. If I’m saying I’m fine, that means I’m fine.”
Even as Pant went about constructing another crucial innings of 74 for India on Saturday morning, it was evident that the pain had not subsided. Every shot that got the bottom hand into play brought a grimace to his face.Pant’s greatest motivator is himself. He keeps talking to himself about how the game is moving. A week before he left to play the U-19 World Cup in Jan 2016, TOI had visited one of his practice sessions at the Sonnet Club in Delhi. While he was practicing his range hitting on a rough patch of the ground, he kept reminding himself, “Out nahin hona hain (don’t get out).”
Poll
Do you think Rishabh Pant’s self-talk is an effective strategy for him during matches?
Talking to himself has always been Pant’s defence mechanism. “I always talk a lot to myself. You get to know about it because the stump mic catches it. My late coach Tarak Sinha taught me to keep talking to yourself. That’s what I’ve been doing since childhood. It helps me a lot,” Pant had said.He once told TOI that he loves to feel nervous before a game. One may have noticed that he used to have dry coughs when he took guard early on in his innings. That is again a part of his defence mechanism, to fight the jitters in his stomach.It’s very difficult to decipher Pant’s thought process. Perhaps his inner voice is the best option. On Saturday, he once again egged himself on to bat through pain and ensured India didn’t fall behind in the Test early on Day Three.
