Crowd pleaser Pant needs to rediscover himself again

The enforcer at No.5 is yet to get going and the visitors will hope he has the same impact Head has had with the Aussies

- ASHISH MAGOTRA

MELBOURNE: There is a sense of anticipation as Rishabh Pant makes his way to the middle. In India. In Australia. In any part of the world, because he tends to give the crowd what they want without ever really having to go out of his way. For what Pant wants is exactly what the crowd wants – an innings that thrills.

But the Australia tour, by his standards, has been tame so far. The returns at the crease have been paltry – three matches, five innings, 96 runs, a high score of 37, all of this at an average of 19.20 and a strike-rate of 60.00. He has dropped catches that have hurt India and just hasn’t settled into the kind of rhythm that can hurt Australia.

The thrills have been lacking too – there was a half-volley for six over fine leg off Pat Cummins at Perth and there was the outrageous reverse pull for four off Scott Boland during the pink-ball Test, but that’s about it.

On Saturday, India had their first training session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Boxing Day Test is still a few days away and this was the perfect opportunity to fit some hard drills in for the batters.