SYDNEY: India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant said he batted with restraint on the opening day of the fifth Test against Australia because the character of the SCG pitch did not allow him to be his customary aggressive self.
Pant, who copped severe criticism from all corners for his callous approach to batting during the previous Test at Melbourne, made a 98-ball 40 in India’s 185 all out here on Friday.
“In this innings, I wasn’t in frame of mind where I felt I could take charge of the game looking at nature of the wicket,” Pant said in the post-day press meet.
“Sometimes you have to play secure cricket as there were occasions where I could have taken 50-50 chances but didn’t,” he added.
The left-hander also said he is evolving as a batter, trying to find the right balance between defence and aggression.
“You want to bat the way that comes naturally to you but keep evolving and trying to keep a balance between attack and defence.”
Pant admitted that a batter tends to complicate things when he is not batting well.
“When you are not doing well you tend to overthink,” he said.
Debutant Aussie all-rounder Beau Webster concurred with Pant’s view on the pitch.
“They (India batters) decided to knuckle down and made us bowl a lot of overs. I am not sure what a good score on this track is but we would have batted first had we won the toss,” said Webster.