Having spent more than 15 months away from the cricket field, Rishabh Pant is making up for the lost time. At the Delhi Capitals’ pre-season camp in Visakhapatnam, Pant was batting continuously at the nets for hours, forcing coach Ricky Ponting to stop him.
For Pant, having extended batting sessions was to give him a better chance of executing his shots. “I am coming back from injury and as a batter, it is always better to bat for long periods. The muscle memory was already there as I was doing these things from a young age. The idea is, with more practice, I give myself the best chance to execute the shots,’’ Pant said at the pre-match press meet.
Pant admitted that he is feeling nervous, jittery and excited about his comeback. However, Ponting said being nervous is a good sign. “He will be nervous tomorrow, playing his first game for a while. I have always said this before, that being nervous is always good. The day a player doesn’t feel nervous he should stop playing,’’ said the former Australian captain.
Liam Livingstone welcomed Pant back into competitive cricket. “The cricket family will be happy to see him back playing after a long break,’’ said the Englishman. Livingstone added that the two bouncers per over rule would excite the bowlers but he said most of them will be wary of using it on smaller grounds.
