We need to cut Rishabh Pant some slack
Virat Kohli averaged 41.16 after 20 Tests, MS Dhoni 36.17, and Rohit Sharma 35.40. Rishabh Pant's average read 45.26 after the same number of matches. While Kohli and Dhoni each had a century outside India in that period, Rohit still has none. Pant had three.
A year ago this time, Pant was at home, fine-tuning his skills for the challenge that beckoned - IPL 2020 and an all-format tour of Australia. After getting a snub from the ODI and T20I series Down Under, his attention had solely been on preparing for the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Pant got leaner, worked on his ever-criticized temperament and, most importantly, found the right balance between his natural attacking style and not-so-natural defense.
In those months, he developed a meticulous batting recipe. It involved avoiding shots in the 'V' to the pacers, attacking them only on square of the wicket, using his feet to unsettle their lengths and, of course, being ruthless to every spinner. The result? Well, Sydney 2021 and Gabba 2021 have been etched into the folklore of Indian cricket as the ones to "tell your grandkids about."
After Pant's knocks of 97 and 89* won India the series there, we all knew that it was just one high in his nascent career. We all knew he would scale many more in the years to come and we were also aware those wouldn't come without his share of chasmic lows. But the euphoria was such that we had already forgotten how he had not even crossed 100 runs in the last two Test series before the tour.
This was similar to how Kohli's performance in England in 2018 overshadowed his average of 9.5 against New Zealand the same year; how Rohit's three centuries against South Africa in 2019 simply wiped out the memories of his previous travails in red-ball cricket; and how Dhoni's 91* in the 2011 World Cup final meant that no one could remember how he failed to go past 35 in the rest of the tournament.
Pant's Delhi teammate and close friend, Nitish Rana, explained this pattern, and how Pant was always aware of it, beautifully in a recent interview with India TV. He said:
"I remember there was a time when people started criticizing him (Pant) but he used to tell me: 'I am just one big innings away, the day I play that, everyone will be silent and I believe I am going to play that innings very soon.' The next match, he made a hundred something, it was during the last (2018-19) Australian tour. Then he called me back and shared those memes people made and told me: 'See, this is how people change. First, they used to say this and now see what they are saying.'"
We don't remember these struggles because we let the once-in-a-generation innings shroud our eyes and expectations forever. Kohli's 2018 happened because there was a 2014 where everyone, including himself, questioned every inch of his technique. Rohit is the world's most assured opening batsman in Test cricket today because he didn't allow years of failures to stop him.
In the current series, Pant has struggled dearly. He scored a 20-ball 25 in the first innings of the first Test, mistiming a well-planned slower delivery against Ollie Robinson. At Lord's, his counterattacking 37 saved India from a major collapse. But he once again got out playing a needless stroke.
In the third Test, he actually failed for the first time in the series. A sloppy shot -once again - in the first essay meant that he couldn't push India's paltry 78 any further and a simply confused push outside off-stump took his edge to the wicketkeeper in the second innings. He ended the match with scores of 2 and 1.
And then finally on Thursday, when the stage was set for him to come and do what he does best, Pant played an appalling heave to get out on 9. Then watched all-rounder Shardul Thakur do his job for him with a face-saving quickfire half-century.
England's relentless attack comprising of the unbelievable James Anderson and some upcoming stars in Robinson and Craig Overton has exposed Pant's chinks to the thread. They cramp him for room on the off-side, bar him from hitting on the up through the covers and spinners are nowhere to be seen when he bats.
This isn't to take anything away from the fact that Pant has repeatedly fallen into the same traps or that his game has been bereft of the two decisive qualities required in these conditions - patience and trust in defense. But does that make him as 'overrated' as many are suggesting? Does that warrant looking at Wriddhiman Saha or even KL Rahul as a wicketkeeping option?
Before answering, we need to remind ourselves that Pant is 23, the youngest member of the Test XI playing at The Oval. He hasn't had enough bad games to qualify as a failure, let alone a "flat-track bully." Surely, Pant needs to be reminded of his responsibility, and scrutinized for his shot-selection. But that can't come without the space to improve and develop that counterpunch.
It's a cricketing cliche that for some players the first few years of international cricket come relatively easy. Because no matter how much IPL you play, your favorite hitting areas and bowling variations are still developing. And it's usually only after being "found out" that a brilliant player starts his rise to the peak.
Back not berate: Kohli's mantra for Pant will reap dividends sooner than later
Indian captains have often been criticized for not backing the right players. Today, when Virat Kohli is supporting Rishabh Pant through this phase, he's being accused - as always - of favoritism. Here's what he said after the defeat at Headingley:
"with one loss I can't assess or start analyzing that as a captain. Definitely the management isn't going to start doing that because we are not failing as a team, as in, consistently we are not losing. We certainly failed in this game and we take responsibility for that. And similar conversations were being initiated about Pujara as well which seem to have disappeared after yesterday so we want to give Rishabh, as I have said before, all the space to play his game and understand the situations and take responsibility like is expected of everyone else in the batting order."
Today, we can't blame Kohli for supporting a proven match-winner. Perhaps Kohli's words come from the experience of seeing his own captain stand by him firmly through and after that 2014 tour. Dhoni was certain enough in Kohli's ability to put him in charge of the team in the next series itself. It's easy to back someone in their palmy days but what Dhoni did and Kohli is doing isn't for the diffident.
More than any of the commentors, fans, critics and former players, they know that you can't build a team by bowing down to criticism. They know that if Team India start calling for players' heads after one or two bad Tests, it won't be a team anymore, it'll just be a bunch of cricketers playing musical chairs.
All of England's youngsters who toured India in February struggled on the spinning tracks. Similarly, hardly any young Indian players go to the UK and simply pile runs. Perhaps the only one from the current team to do that, Ajinkya Rahane, is still struggling to get bat on the ball (and away from it).
Pant is just on his second tour here, he'll learn. He'll be better. Give him some time. He wants it a lot more than his staunchest fan. All batters are flat-track bullies until they aren't. Cutting Pant some slack won't make him a worse player, but it might just give him the right impetus to be a better one.