Rishabh Pant in action during his 29-ball 69 against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday. PTINew Delhi: Rishabh Pant's individual brilliance has not gone unnoticed in Delhi Daredevils' stuttering campaign in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), but the young wicketkeeper-batsman says he doesn't want to think about a potential India call-up based on this performance.
Pant has been Daredevils' batting mainstay this season with three half-centuries.
In Wednesday's match against Rajasthan Royals, the left-hander smashed 69 off just 29 balls to steer the side to a huge total and an eventual win, which has kept it alive in the tournament.
Asked if this consistent show will help him secure a spot in the Indian team, Pant said, "I am not thinking about that. I am just playing IPL right now, just trying to do well in every game for the side."
The 20-year-old has played four T20 Internationals for India.
Pant said his side has succeeded in curtailing the mistakes and that has been the key to its revival. They have now jumped from eighth to sixth in the points table and remain in the play-offs race.
"Everything is fine from our side. There are small things, we were making mistakes, that did not happen this time and we won the match."
Asked how the side is turning it around, Pant said, "We were batting brilliant in all the games but small mistakes (happened) on our part. We are making sure it does not happen."
Pant comes in at No. 4 for Daredevils with young opener Prithvi Shaw and new captain Shreyas Iyer batting ahead of him. They are providing a good platform for Pant to go for his strokes.
"Everyone is different, they are playing at the top order, they have to maintain the run rate and they are doing a pretty good job and after that I am doing a good job for my team. Our team combination is also helping."
Talking about Shaw's impressive batting, Pant said, "He was a brilliant kid from day one but he was not getting his chance. When he got the chance, he capitalised on those."
Pant said bowling was "not a concern" for his side even though they have taken a beating. Defending 150 from 12 overs Wednesday night, the side just about managed to survive.
"The wickets are pretty good for batting. That's part and parcel of the game."
Pressure on Royals
Meanwhile, Royals Australian opener D'Arcy Short admitted that they are now under pressure to pull off win in every match.
"It's a tough loss for us. Chasing 150 from 12 overs was tough. We have to win each game now. Each game will be like an elimination game now. We (he and Jos Buttler) had to go hard and had some 90 runs from seven-eight (overs), we tried to do it," he said.
Asked if rain and a revised target made the job tough for them, Short said, "Tough to say, there was rain halfway through the game and before the game, don't think it impacted too much. We need to have clear plans and stick to our plans and know what to do and kind of back ourselves."
