"Uninstalled WhatsApp, Phone Off": How Rishabh Pant Punished Himself After 'Stupid, Stupid' Act
India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant impressed everyone with his back-to-back centuries against England in the first Test in Leeds. Pant broke several records with his powerful and aggressive centuries and showed his true mettle. Unfortunately, his knock went in vain as India ended up losing the match by five wickets as England take 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Pant is widely known for his fiery batting performances and aggressive style. However, he completely failed to live up to his reputation in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, earlier this year.
In the Tests against Australia, Pant managed to score only 255 runs in five matches at an average of 28.33. His tally included only 24 boundaries and six maximums in the series, where India lost 1-3.
The most infamous dismissals of Pant from the Australia series was during the Melbourne Test, where he was caught while trying to play a ramp shot. Following the dismissal, former India batter Sunil Gavaskar, who was commentating during the match, slammed Pant for his reckless approach and his "Stupid, stupid, stupid" rant went viral on social media.
Recently, a report from Times Of India revealed that after the dismal show in the Melbourne Test, Pant decided to undergo a hard training session. He reportedly uninstalled his WhatsApp and even switched off his mobile phone to focus on his practice.
"He did the most intense sessions day in and day out. He dragged me into the gym whenever he was free. He didn't care about fatigue or work-loaded programmes. All he said was he needed to keep working on himself. On the day of the final, he came to me with some kind of guilt in his mind and asked if he could take the day off. I said it was high time that he did," India's former strength and conditioning coach, Sohum Desai told Times of India.
"Pant has so much reserve that he will be fine for at least a year without having to do anything extraordinary. That's why you see him moving around so well despite scoring two hundreds and keeping wickets for so long in the Headingley Test," he added.
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