What was Rishabh Pant thinking against Kagiso Rabada?

5th January 2022, Johannesburg, India have veered themselves to relative safety but aren’t completely out of the woods when Rishabh Pant strides out to bat. The scoreboard, at that juncture, reads 163/4, meaning that the visitors enjoy a healthy 136-run lead.

On any other occasion, a lead of that ilk would force India to go into their shell and perhaps consolidate. At the Wanderers, though, where the ball is snaking around corners, it seems India just need a finishing kick to put the game beyond South Africa.

From that perspective, a batter the Proteas would’ve dreaded would’ve been Pant. Not because the wicket-keeper would enjoy the pace and bounce in Johannesburg, but because South Africa know the destruction he is capable of causing.

The 39th over dawns and he is up against his former Delhi Capitals teammate Kagiso Rabada. The pacer pushes the first ball across the left-handed batter. Pant wafts and misses. The second delivery, rather unsurprisingly, is banged into the track. Pant cops a blow on the glove and just about manages to survive.

The chatter around the batter reaches the highest decibel imaginable on a cricket field. Rassie van der Dussen, who is fielding at short leg, has a few choice words for the batter as well. He might’ve even hinted that the wicket-keeper was itching to take Rabada downtown.

Everything quietens down as Rabada takes a deep breath at the top of his run-up. Pant, too, surveys where the gaps are and what he needs to do to thwart the fast bowler.

From the outside, it seems unclear what lies in wait. Will Pant try to stick to his defensive game and show the kind of maturity he did at the start of 2021? Or, will he have a characteristic rush of blood?

Deep down, though, both Pant and Rabada seem to know what is going to happen. And then it happens. To Pant and India’s detriment. But to Rabada’s delight.

Rishabh Pant was dismissed for a three-ball duck

The ball pitches on middle and off stump but it doesn’t really matter because the batter has, at least a week ago, decided to advance. He stays true to his instincts and then has a yahoo across the line – one that would’ve made someone wielding an axe proud.

The only problem, though, is that Rabada had also received a telegram on what was going to unfold. The ball takes a snick through to Kyle Verreynne, Pant throws his head back in disgust, Rahul Dravid shakes his head in equal angst and billions of Indians deliver their verdict on Pant, all over again.

Unsurprisingly, those on commentary shared their opinions too because, well, they are paid to do so. Apart from that, though, it was the cumulative frustration that had built up. Not because of the kind of stroke Pant attempted, but because he always seems capable of so much more.

This, in a nutshell, has been the conundrum surrounding Pant. At times, he has evoked collective gasps of awe with his breathtaking stroke-play. On other occasions, he has perhaps been too over-ambitious, irresponsible, injudicious and many other adjectives with a similar definition.

However, you always felt that his career was going to be defined by the things he did in between – a phase many thought had arrived after watershed knocks at Ahmedabad, Brisbane and Sydney. Yet, a phase that Pant seems to have, for some reason, completely obliviated from his memory.

Pant has struggled for runs since the Australia tour

During those essays, there was a bit of maturity attached to his batting. He picked and chose his match-ups, attacked Jack Leach and Nathan Lyon predominantly and was willing to bide his time when the going got a little tough.

More importantly, he didn’t charge down the track to fast bowlers. While that is a perfectly acceptable tactic, considering batters like Kevin Pietersen and Matthew Hayden regularly dominated via that avenue, it is something that the wicket-keeper seems far from mastering.

As things stand, he averages a tick over 12 when he comes out of his bunker against pacers in Test cricket. There is nothing wrong in wanting to transfer the pressure onto the bowlers. The execution and the shot selection, though, are woefully out of sync.

Over the past few years, the southpaw has developed quite a reputation for blazing away. To be fair to him, it is a reputation he has carved up because of the audacity of his strokes. So there are certainly some strokes he knows he can nail.

At the moment, the charge down the track with gay abandon, hoping that when he swings like a rusty gate, the ball will, almost with some divine intervention hit the middle, isn’t quite working out.

That, however, doesn’t mean he should be advised not to attack altogether because that will be the equivalent of telling Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen that they need to drive on the left side of an eight-lane highway and not speed beyond 60 km/hr.

Even at the Wanderers, there were countless occasions when Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara went fishing outside the line of off stump. Both got a few edges away and their knocks were looked at as classic counter-attacking essays.

Pujara, in particular, had quite a few swipes across the line and top-edged at least a couple of hook strokes. Each of them landed safely and ensured that the veteran rattled along.

Neither, by the way, has built a career on counter-attacking and throwing caution to the wind. Pant, on the other hand, has been an aggressive batter throughout his life. So, on percentages alone, you feel he will have a better success rate.

An enhanced ratio of success will only come about once he starts choosing his moments to attack better. He has precedent and has shown that he can do it on the international stage and in crunch situations.

It’s just that Pant, for some reason, forgets what he is capable of. Or, he thinks that he is capable of too much. There is nothing in between.

Years ago, Dravid is speculated to have expressed his disappointment at a shot MS Dhoni played. The latter then corrected his mistake, became as dependable as any other front-line batter and devised an unparalleled method of calculated aggression.

Pant shouldn't be compared to Dhoni (India has been guilty of that too many times already). But it is quite intriguing that both of their storylines – this time with Dravid as the experienced shoulder to lean on, are intertwining again.

Until something of that sort happens or, to be more specific, until the Delhi Capitals captain can find a method that optimizes the talent at his disposal and eliminates risk as much as he deems possible, there will be several occasions when fans won’t be wrong in asking what Pant was doing playing a particular stroke against a particular bowler in a particular situation.

Which brings us to…..what was Pant actually thinking when walking out to bat at the Wanderers with India not out of the woods?

The thinking was to produce a momentum-shifting innings – an innings that knocked the stuffing out of South Africa and dented their confidence. Perhaps the right idea.

Nothing, though, was right about what transpired thereafter. And, as always, it has elicited two reactions – excitement that something is going to happen and exasperation when it actually happens.

Just another day at work for Pant, eh?