Rishabh Pant (AFP Photo)

NEW DELHI: Rishabh Pant went down on his left knee and smacked the first ball he faced over the long-on boundary in the last T20I series-opener against West Indies in Hyderabad. The clean hit settled his anxious coach Tarak Sinha ’s nerves.

In the field, Pant has been the hot topic in Indian cricket over the last four months. Every discussion has obsessively revolved around Pant’s ‘potential’, ‘inconsistency’ and ‘game awareness’. His dismissals have been borderline cringeworthy as the runs dried up until the West Indies arrived.

It’s when the 22-year-old decided to go back to the drawing board. He had just one weekend to work with his coaches at Sonnet Club. It was about rediscovering innate ability to strike the ball without fear. He intently walked into Sonnet Club ready for four-hour net sessions.

The opening minutes looked scratchy but then Pant, Sinha and his mentor Devender Sharma decided to free him up. Pant moved out from the regular nets to have a hit on the centre pitch for sessions of incessant clean-hitting.

The idea was to get his bat-swing back with all the talk about shot-selection making him conscious and focusing more on his defensive game during his time with the Indian team.

“He always says he feels lighter when he comes to club. He would complain that he couldn’t get on with his shots. Everything seemed half-hearted. He would premeditate and plonk his front foot forward. He is all about confidence and it was taking a hit," Sinha told TOI.

"Then he said he wanted to practice big shots. That freed him up and the bat swing was back.”

It was then about picking his deliveries to hit. After eight hours of batting over the weekend and plenty of lost balls, Pant left for the West Indies series with a much clear mind.

“We decided that we won’t talk about any criticism. He has to be mentally positive. Even MS Dhoni took time to become what he is now. But it’s also necessary to not hide away from the chinks in your game,” the Dronacharya award-winning coach said.

This is when he sat Pant down and talked about the challenges of his second season in international cricket.

“I told him people are blocking the on-side. His stance had opened up and he was dragging balls from outside the off-stump to the leg-side. He had to realize that he had to revive his off-side game,” remarked Sinha.

The difference started showing in the T20I series when he started hitting the holes on off-side. The measured 69-ball 71-run knock in the first ODI on Sunday was more gratifying.

“The number of drives he has hit in this series is pleasing. He is opening up the field now. It’s about showing his maturity and building on it now,” Sinha reckoned.

