Not in frame of mind to charge with bat: Rishabh Pant

Pant says he batted with restraint on the opening day of the fifth Test against Australia because of the character of the SCG pitch and the game situation

Sydney: India wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant said he batted with restraint on the opening day of the fifth Test against Australia because character of the SCG pitch and the game situation did not allow him to be his customary aggressive self.

Pant, who copped severe criticism from all corners for his callous approach to batting during the previous Test at Melbourne, made a 98-ball 40 in India’s 185 all out here on Friday.

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“I think in this innings, I was not in a frame of mind where I wanted to take charge of the game because the wicket was doing too much and the kind of situation we were in,” Pant said in the post-day press meet.

“I would say there might be a 50-50 chance which I could have taken early on in this innings but sometimes you have to play more secure cricket especially the way, wicket was behaving.

“We knew that if we lost one more wicket here, we might lose 2-3 in quick succession. So that was the idea behind the way I was playing,” he added.

Pant’s falling pull in Melbourne had prompted legendary Sunil Gavaskar to call the shot “stupid” and in the second innings, he slogged a half-tracker from Travis Head to find the only fielder in the deep when the Test match could have been saved.