"
Chal, tujhe kuch nahi hua hai (Come on, nothing's happened to you)"
With his head down,
Rishabh Pant is muttering under his breath. It almost sounds like a mother comforting her child who's in pain. Pant is in pain here. We're at the SCG nets on Sunday (January 10) evening. It's around 5 pm and as Day 4 of
the Test winds down, the Indian openers are holding court in the middle. The focus in the nets area though is on the pugnacious wicket-keeper. He's been accompanied there by two of the throwdown specialists and physio Nitin Patel.
Pant has faced a handful of deliveries before he begins consoling himself. He starts off by batting with the strap over his arm before asking Patel to take it off. Most of his stint is trying to play drives off Nuwan Seneviratne's left-arm throwdowns. You can sense his discomfort every second delivery as he feels the elbow take a brunt of the bat's impact with ball. But he keeps shaking off the pain. Instead he keeps shouting, "Don't get scared. Increase the pace," at Seneviratne before turning to Patel and going, "
usko lag raha mujhe lag na jaaye (he's worried I might get hurt)."
The physio has now moved to the adjacent net and is checking on Pant after literally every delivery he faces. There are some the left-hander seems very comfortable facing but others where he grimaces before fighting off the pain. Twice he switches between batting with the strap on and without it before asking Seneviratne to start "increasing the pace" and start bowling bouncers at him.
"
Wahan bouncer hi daalenge yaar, (Bouncers is what they'll bowl out there)" he declares. The throwdown specialist finally begins dishing out short-pitched deliveries after seeking Patel's permission as Pant unleashes a flurry of fierce pull and cut shots. There's sudden excitement within the mini group as Patel exclaims, "Shot Rishabh, it'll be surprise that will hit them hard. It'll be a big surprise."
It was a 25-minute net session on the sidelines of a crucial period of the third Test that in many ways set the tone for India's greatest escape on Monday (January 11). It was also one that was revelatory of the guts and gumption that this team and every single one of its players thrives on. Here was a young man gritting it out through considerable pain and agony, mothering himself along the way, for the sake of his country. Earlier in the day, Pant had been deemed to be fit enough to bat "only if necessary". But as he punched and pulled through the pain barrier, he was making sure it is he who would be in-charge of that decision.
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