‘Batting with Jadeja made difference’
SYDNEY: Rishabh Pant felt the “nervous 90’s syndrome” on Friday but said Ravindra Jadeja’s presence at the other end helped him play with freedom unlike previous Test matches, when the young keeper had to bat with the tail.
Pant, who became the first Indian keeper to hit a hundred in Australia, added 204 runs with Jadeja (81) for the seventh wicket to almost bat the home team out of the contest.
Asked if anything changed as he was getting out in 20s and 30s, Pant replied: “I don’t think anything changed from my side. The main thing was that I was playing with a batsman (Jadeja) this time. Most of the time, when I got a start, I was playing with the tail.
“If I am batting with the tail, I have to think differently because most of the time, I have to score the runs. But when you are batting with a batsman, that’s a different thing. You have seen it today (Friday),” Pant said on his superb 159 off 189 balls.
“The best part of my batting is that everyone in the team has
given me freedom to express myself. Every time when I go to bat, I just enjoy myself, that’s the only thing I love to do,” said Pant.
He said getting out in the 90s against West Indies did weigh on his mind.
“To be honest, I was a little nervous because in India when we were playing West Indies, in the last two innings, I got out on 92 and 92. So I was scared slightly but I got through that phase quickly,” Pant said.
The obvious question about comparison between his hundred against England at The Oval and the one at SCG was asked. “Every hundred I score in international cricket is special
for me because I have just started my career. But the main thing is that I don’t think about hundreds.”
Later in the day, Pant dropped a sitter offered by Usman Khwaja off Mohammed Shami’s bowling but he wants to remain positive.
“As a wicket-keeper, we look forward to only one thing — to be positive because this is not a oneball game. You have to be on the field till you get the opposition out. So you have to be positive because if the next chance comes and you don’t grab that, your morale will go down even more I guess. So you have to positive all the time,” he said.
PUJARA MAYBE GIVEN UPGRADED CONTRACT
NEW DELHI: Cheteshwar Pujara’s stellarperformance inaustralia could get him an upgrade to the top A plus bracket in the central contracts as the BCCI is deliberating a relaxation of norms for the dependable No.3.
Pujara has so far scored 521 runs in seven innings with three hundreds at an impressive average of 74.42.
It is learnt that Committee of Administrators chief Vinod Rai, in all likelihood, will bring up the idea with chairman of selectors MSK Prasad along with the team management (captain Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri).
After the revised pay structure approved in 2018, A plus category players get Rs 7 crore while A category, where Pujara currently is, get Rs 5 crore. The B and C category players get Rs three and one crore respectively.
“Pujara’s brilliant performance deserves recognition. The COA chief will discuss with the team management and the chief selector to check if the rule for all-format specialists in the top bracket can be relaxed,” a senior BCCI official said on condition of anonymity.