The 19-year-old Rishabh Pant, who is going to debut in the three-match Twenty20 series against England starting on Thursday (January 26), has stated he is eager to cash in on the opportunity after being inducted into the national side.
After scoring 972 runs in this year’s Ranji Trophy season for Delhi, Pant impressed the national selectors by exactly averaging 81 in the domestic cricket. He smashed four centuries and two half-centuries.
Having senior players in the team is always a treat for the youngsters to learn from their overall experience and Pant feels the presence of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni will help them a lot.
“I want to capitalise on this opportunity. Staying with Virat (Kohli) and Dhoni and others, as a youngster, I will try and learn as much as I can,” Rishabh told First Post.
In the T20 game against Canara Bank at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, Pant blasted 84 off 34 deliveries to see his side Reliance-1 chasing the target of 120 in just 10.2 overs.
The Haridwar-born Pant has vowed to work hard to cement his place in the shorter format of the game by giving best of the performances for the Men in Blue.
“Now that I have been named in the India squad, I have received a chance to do more hard work and learn more,” Rishabh added.
The promising left-handed batsman Rishabh had smashed the fastest Ranji Trophy century off 48 balls against Jharkhand followed by a triple-century against Maharashtra in Ranji Trophy 2016-17, only to become the third youngest Indian to score a First-Class century.
“It [good knocks] gives me momentum for the T20s and it’s good that I got two-three T20 matches, because recently we were playing long form cricket and arrived here on the back of four-day cricket in the Ranji Trophy,” Rishabh further said.
“While constantly playing matches in Delhi, the fearless approach develops by itself. In local matches, you have to score big and because of that I have developed this approach,” Rishabh remarked.
In 2015, Rishabh helped his Under-19 qualify for the semi-finals in Bangaldesh while giving an early start to his side.
“I haven’t thought about it along those lines. I just concentrate on performing. I don’t think ‘this is my turning point or that is my turning point’,” he added.
“If you keep performing well, everything will go well,” he said.
The wicket-keeper batsman expressed that his Under-19 coach Rahul Dravid has helped him grow as a batsman.
“One thing I learnt from him is to always try to be consistent,” Rishabh concluded.
