How Pant learned to respect the game

When a spindly 19-year-old Ravi Shastri made his Test debut for India 40 years ago, he admittedly didn’t think he was going to play 80 Tests and 150 ODIs, let alone coach a slew of youngsters towards similar success in the same team.

Since taking over as the head coach of the Indian team in 2017, Shastri has overseen the evolution of a number of youngsters, but none has he more defiantly fought for than Rishabh Pant. Not many gave the 23-year-old a chance for he was far too inconsistent with the bat in hand and his keeping was dreadful.

Shastri wasn’t about to let his investment go to ruins, not when there was actual talent to be tapped into. He persisted. Pant has now played 20 Tests and scored 1358 runs at an average of 45.26 and has three series-defining centuries.

“You have a naturally brilliant match-winner of his ability playing to potential, there's no greater sight in cricket,” said Shastri in the aftermath of India’s Test-series win over England on Saturday.

“In the last two months what he's done, to win matches for India... there will be players who won't do it in a lifetime and wouldn't have done it in a lifetime. At the age of 21, to pull off magic after working as hard as he has, and then to show in his wicketkeeping like yesterday.”

But just because Shastri has high hopes for him doesn’t mean he takes it easy on the youngster. The contrary is more true. “After the IPL, he came on with a lot of baggage and it showed in his size,” said Shastri as a matter of fact. “And he had to lose that baggage, which he did. He worked his backside off to lose it. And I'll tell you, he has trained harder than anyone else in the last two months. The results are not just for him to see, they're for the world to see.”

“He was told in no uncertain terms that this game demands respect and you've got to do much more than what you do. He did, and is now reaping the rewards,” the former commentator added.

“When I was 21, 22, 23, I had similar success. I had overseas hundreds so I can relate to what he has done. You can never mistake the exuberance of youth. When you're young, you don't carry baggage, you're fearless. It's only when the baggage comes and you become a known entity and the pressures from the outside come in that you've to perform all the time, that's when life starts... as it started with Rishabh.”

"Unlucky" Axar

While Axar Patel is far from young at 27, he is still only three Test matches old, and Shastri said he had been unlucky to miss out on a spot in the team for so long.

“He's been very unlucky with injuries. A lot of players have got opportunities because of his injuries, including the likes of (Ravindra) Jadeja and Krunal Pandya. This was the time he was injury-free and he made the most of it,” said Shastri. Axar finished his debut series with 27 scalps from six innings, including four fifers.

The coach attributed the burst of quality amongst youngsters to the bio-bubble, saying it forced them to use more resources.

“Because of the bubble, you had to go with enlarged squads. Normally you would go with 17-18, but because of the bubble and quarantine laws that exist, you had to go with 25, 30 and 35 in certain cases,” he explained.

“As a result, you had to dig deep and pick your 30 best players. As luck would have it, we were left with no choice but to play each of those 30. And you found out who is good and who is not good. So it is a good headache to have. It is something that's worked well. You'd have never imagined the number of players who played for India six months ago. I am glad the youngsters who got the opportunity, grabbed it with both hands.”