Rishabh Pant isn’t exactly an interviewer’s delight.
As expressive as he is on the field with the bat and his face, the 20-year old prefers to stick to monosyllables off it. It works for him too. A brief stint with the Indian team in Sri Lanka has made him more aware of the hard yards he has to put in but also made him more determined and focussed.
After a whirlwind 29-ball 69 that saw Delhi Daredevils win its third game of the season and earned Pant his first man-of-the-match award, the wicket-keeper was not looking too far ahead. “I am not thinking about that, I am just playing the IPL right now and trying it do well in every game for my team,” he said when asked about his India chances.
He was not too keen to dwell on the team’s shortcomings either. “Everything has been fine from our side even before, we were batting brilliant in all the games but there were small mistakes in every match and things were not going our way. That did not happen today and we won,” he shrugged.
But if Pant was circumspect, Rajasthan Royals’ D’Arcy Short out-did him. “It’s a tough loss for us, I think we wanted to come off with a win today but chasing 150-odd in 12 overs was quite a tough task. We did well to get to where we did,” was all he would say after the loss.
And the way forward? “We need to have clear plans and stick to our plans and know what to do and kind of back ourselves. That’s it.”
