3 times Rishabh Pant got support from Indian skippers

Perhaps the world's most explosive wicket-keeper currently, Rishabh Pant has been a hot topic due to his recent batting exploits.

The swashbuckling dasher had a successful tour of England, where he single-handedly changed the course of matches. Pant's counter-attacking innings of 146 bailed India out of trouble from a precarious situation during the rescheduled fifth Test in Birmingham.

The talented left-hander then came up with one of the best white-ball centuries scored by an Indian overseas. He was once again India's savior in the series-clinching decider and scored his maiden ODI ton.

Rishabh Pant remained unbeaten and guided India to a comfortable win in the end, silencing the critics who raised questions over his white-ball might. While he's more or so now one of the first names on the team sheet across formats, the journey hasn't been as smooth as Pant would've hoped for.

Due to his anomalous and peculiar way of batting, the 24-year old faced criticism when he didn't score. However, given the talent he has, his teammates, including the former Indian captains he has played under, have always backed and stood by Pant.

In this article, we will take a look at the three instances where Rishabh Pant got support from his skippers.

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#3 When Virat Kohli backed a misfiring Rishabh Pant in 2019

Rishabh Pant found it hard to stamp his authority in international cricket from the word go, especially in white-ball cricket. He had middling performances in 2019, where he mustered only 56 runs in five T20I games.

Apart from his poor form with the bat, his wicket-keeping abilities have come under scrutiny as well.

Ahead of a white-ball series between India and West Indies, Indian skipper Virat Kohli lent his support to underfire Rishabh Pant. He said the team has belief in the youngster's ability and will therefore be given all the support by the management to perform.

While addressing the eve of the first T20I in Hyderabad, Kohli said:

"We certainly believe in Rishabh's ability. As you say, it's (also) the player's responsibility to do well, but our responsibility is to give him space, to support him."

He added:

"He should get support and it is disrespectful if you don't get it. Once he comes good, you will see a very different version of him. He can't be isolated to such an extent that he doesn't do well. We are here to do things for him."

This was just one of several instances where Kohli came to Pant's aid and defended him from media scrutiny.

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#2 When Rohit Sharma dismissed questions on Rishabh Pant's captaincy skills

In the most recent incident of the three, Rohit Sharma jumped to the defense of Rishabh Pant after the Delhi Capitals (DC) captain faced flak for his tactical blunder during their defeat in the IPL 2022 league game.

DC had their fate in their own hands and needed to defeat the Mumbai Indians (MI) during their last league game of the tournament in order to qualify for the playoffs. However, DC lost the match against MI despite dominating most of it.

With MI needing 65 runs in their last five overs, Pant made a tactical error by declining to go for DRS after Tim David nicked his very first delivery. Both Pant and the on-field umpire missed a subtle edge that was visible in the replays and on the Ultra-Edge.

It came back to haunt DC as David slammed 34 runs off just 11 balls. In the end, DC were defeated by 5 wickets and were eliminated from the IPL 2022.

Following the on-field error, Pant was on the receiving end of severe criticism over his decision-making from fans and the media.

MI captain Rohit Sharma, however, backed his international teammate after the game and asserted that Pant is a quality captain.

Proposing that Rishabh Pant will emerge as a stronger character and skipper next IPL season, Rohit said:

"He is a quality captain, there's no doubt about it. In the past seasons, we have seen how he has led his team. Sometimes things don't go your way. It is as simple as that. You can take a lot of learnings from all of this and try and keep things simple."

He continued:

"He's got a great mind, he reads the game well from behind. It's a high-pressure tournament and those little fumbles can happen. But it is important not to lose confidence and not to start doubting yourself. That is something I spoke to him about. He's a confident guy, he'll come back strong next season."

Even DC coach Ricky Ponting contended that he had absolutely no doubt that Pant was the right man for the role.

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#1 When Kohli supported Rishabh Pant over his reckless batting in South Africa

2nd Test: South Africa v India - Day 3

Known for his fearless approach, Rishabh Pant has been accused of not putting a price tag on his wicket.

During India's last tour to South Africa, several pundits and Indian fans slammed Pant over his shot selection in the second Test match at Wanderers, Johannesburg.

Coming at No. 6 and facing just a couple of deliveries, Pant was dismissed while charging down the track against Kagiso Rabada and nicking the ball to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne.

The left-handed dasher was looking to slog towards the extra cover region, but an outside edge to the keeper cut his innings short, leading to pundits and fans questioning his reckless batting approach.

Amidst his criticism, the then-India captain backed Pant's shot selection and said that a cricketer makes mistakes in important situations.

Kohli mentioned:

"We have all got out, sometimes due to pressure, sometimes due to the bowler's skill. It's very important to understand that what was the mindset at that moment, what decision you took and what was your mistake there. As long as we keep accepting our mistakes, we will improve and make sure that we don't repeat those".

Kohli's backing sent a correct message to everyone that the team management had enough trust in Pant's abilities and what he had to offer to the side.

Pant roared back in the very next game and turned his criticism into motivation to score an immaculate century in the series-decider.

He became the first Indian wicket-keeper to register a century in South Africa when he scored 100* off 139 in the second innings. However, his efforts went in vain as India lost the game by 7 wickets.