BGT 2024-25: Rishabh Pant explains reason behind his cautious approach with the bat on day 1 of SCG test

Rishabh Pant top scored for India in first innings of the SCG test.

The fifth test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 is delicately poised with Australia trailing by 176 runs with nine wickets in hand at stumps on day 1.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, India had a poor start. The visitors lost openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal before reaching 20 runs. Shubman Gill, who replaced Indian skipper Rohit Sharma in the playing XI, scored 20 runs before throwing away his wicket before lunch.

The primary talking point of India’s innings was Rishabh Pant, who top-scored for the team with a 40-run knock off 98 balls. Criticized for throwing away his wicket at the MCG, Pant endured multiple body blows to guide India to a fighting total.

The 27-year-old wicket-keeper batter has now explained why he changed his natural game today.

Rishabh Pant on his cautious batting approach on day 1 of SCG test

Speaking to the media after the first day’s play, Pant acknowledged that the pitch was favoring the fast bowlers, and the situation did not allow him to play his natural attacking game.

Pant said, “I think in this innings, I was not in a frame of mind where I wanted to take charge of the game because the wicket was doing too much and the kind of situation we were in,“

Pant emphasized the importance of playing sensible cricket and placing a high value on his wicket.

He added, “Sometimes you have to play more sensible cricket. There might have been a 50-50 chance which I could have taken early on in this innings but sometimes you have to play more secure cricket especially the way wicket was behaving.“

“And while playing inside, I felt like I could play a little bit of defensive cricket. Yes there is a time to attack but you have to feel that from inside. I can’t just premeditate that I’m going to play this way. Whatever the game asked me to do on that given day, that’s what I tried to do and that was the mindset.“

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