Boria Majumdar in Manchester
Back in Manchester one of the key things I was looking forward to seeing was if Rishabh Pant trained full steam with the Indian team on matchday-minus-two. India missed Pant the leader at Lord’s. His presence on the field, constant ideations with Shubman Gill and his contributions from behind the wicket was a key aspect of India’s fightback in Birmingham.
May I say I was delighted to see Pant back full steam. He fielded with gusto, participated in each of the fielding drills and was involved in the banter and then kept wickets for a good half an hour when the Indians were involved in a specialised slip catching drill. He thereafter went on to bat at the nets at the end of which he went to the pitch to do his customary pitch inspection.
At the end of his practice day, I had an interesting meeting with Pant. I was shooting for a special show titled, ‘Memories of Manchester’ in which I was reminiscing about Sachin Tendulkar’s 1990 hundred and how he was uncomfortable in raising his bat to the appreciation of the crowd. It was his first-ever international hundred and little did he know that there were 99 more to follow. Also, Sachin did not want to face the media because he was scared! In fact, he even informed manager Madhav Mantri that his job was done, and it’d be nicer if the manager did the media interaction on his behalf.
As I was narrating these stories, I could see Pant walking back from the pitch and was on his way to the change room. He saw me and walked up to me to exchange pleasantries. Seeing me shoot, he stood there to allow me finish and to my pleasant surprise waited to hear all of the stories I had to narrate. It was interesting. Here was the Indian team’s vice-captain who had just finished an intense practice session and yet he was keen on listening to the stories.
At the end of the show, we had a quick interaction and yet again I wished him the best. We even spoke of that dreaded 2019 World Cup semi-final and said that it was good to see India using the other change room and not the one used in the game against New Zealand. Pant, as always, was calm and positive. It is this intent of his that makes him a fantastic red-ball player. He isn’t overawed and yet hugely focused. He knows that the team will need a herculean effort from him and is bracing himself for the challenge. He knows Lord’s was an opportunity and his own injury hampered the team. Had he been fully fit he would have played a lot more shots and things could have been different. It was his run out in the first innings that was the turning point and had he been around India could have taken a first innings lead.
All said and done, Lord’s is history now. A fit-again Pant in Manchester is the present and that’s a huge plus for India going into the Old Trafford Test. Pant is a game-changer and India will need every bit of it to make it 2-2 and stay alive.
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