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Ind Vs Sl Want To Keep Improving Rishabh Pant After Winning Pots Award

IND vs SL | 'Want to keep improving...' - Rishabh Pant after winning 'POTS' award

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has said that his ability to keep evolving with time is the primary reason behind his continued improvement as an international cricketer over the last 15-16 months.

Pant was adjudged 'Player of the Series' for his superb contributions with both bat as well as behind the stumps in the just-concluded two-match rubber against Sri Lanka.

The swashbuckling cricketer from Delhi was at his fearsome best throughout the series, hammering 185 runs in three innings at an average of 61.67 and a barely believable strike rate of 120.13.

This includes a breathtaking 97-ball 96 in the first Test in Mohali and a record-shattering 30-ball 50 in Bengaluru, where he broke Kapil Dev's 40-year-old record of scoring the fastest half-century for India in the longest format of the game.

Apart from his batting, Pant was equally sensational behind the stumps against the spinners on surfaces tailor-made for them.

Pant has endured immense scrutiny over his shot-selection and, especially his keeping skills in the past.

So, what has changed now?

According to the Delhi Capitals skipper, it's his relentless desire to keep improving. The urge to only focus on the next delivery without looking too much into the future has contributed to his success.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Pant said, “I think both (batting and keeping), you need to keep evolving, I’ve made mistakes in the past and want to keep improving. It’s not in my mindset, the wicket was difficult to play, so I thought I will look for quick runs."

The 24-year old added, "I’ll do whatever the team management wants me to do (on batting at number five). I think it’s more about confidence; previously, I used to think too much, now I’m only focusing on every ball (referring to his improved keeping skills).”

India wrapped up their fifteenth consecutive Test series win on the third evening as they bowled Sri Lanka out for 208, despite a sensational hundred from Dimuth Karunaratne.

Jasprit Bumrah finished with figures of 3/23, while Ravichandran Ashwin snared four wickets at the cost of 55 runs.

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PAK vs AUS | Pitch comments haunt Pakistan as host stare at massive defeat against spirited Australians

‘We don’t want to put the game on Australia’s lap,’ scoffed Ramiz Raja after Pakistan Cricket Board were hit by ‘pitch controversy’ on the historic occasion of Australia’s return to Pakistan. He made it abundantly clear at the end of the first game, that Pakistan would be looking to make low turning tracks throughout the series to negate the world class Australian attack that houses the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Come the second game in Karachi, reports started emerging that PCB had prepared several options for the wicket and one that was assured to offer help to spin bowling as the match progressed would be chosen. Cut to Day 3 of the second Test match at Karachi, Pakistan have been blown away by the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Cameron Green and are currently staring at a heavy defeat going into the final two days of the game. How it happened And it was not the pitch that did Pakistan in, but the skill and observation of captain Pat Cummins who is on his first away tour as a captain. Cummins copped quite an amount of blow after taking a long time to declare against Pakistan. They had already crossed a safe total on Day 2, and considering Alex Carey fell seven short of his maiden hundred, many believed that Australia should have just declared. However, that was not the case and Cummins batted for 11 more overs after the left hander’s dismissal, even taking some time in the morning session of Day 3. Coming into bowl with a massive first innings total of 556 runs, Australia started their session brilliantly with a Mitchell Swepson throw that found opener Abdullah Shafique short of his crease. Taking Lyon off The ball had already started turning late on Day 2, something that Ramiz Raja would have been overjoyed about. The pitch itself was a hard one, suitable for batting with the odd ball gripping and turning from the rough. Nathan Lyon, after his battering in the first Test match was doing exceptionally well, operating at the figures of 7-4-9-1. He had removed centurion from the last game Imam-ul-Haq to make sure Australia were in further control. And then Cummins switched it up. He found the ball reversing a little and immediately threw the ball to his fastest bowler Mitchell Starc. And Starc paid back his captain’s faith. Starc, in a spirited spell of bowling removed Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam in consecutive deliveries in the 26th over. At that time, every single ball off Starc’s hands looked like it could take a wicket and Mohammad Rizwan got a taste of that in the very first ball that he faced. The right handed keeper-batsman walked into face Starc on his hattrick delivery. Coming from around the wicket, Starc bowled a full delivery from wide of the crease aimed towards the stump. The ball pitched on the off stump and reversed away from Rizwan, who did exceedingly well to curb his instincts to push at the ball. Rizwan survived, but Pakistan were down by four wickets till that point. Cleaning up the lower order Things became more difficult for Pakistan in the next phase of play as Pat Cummins brought in his full repertoire of skills and made life hell for the batsmen. He removed Rizwan in the 32nd over, after constantly troubling him on the off stump line. From there it was just a matter of time before Australia took over the scene and it did not take long for Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc to derail them further. A helpless Babar Azam could only stand from the other end and saw wickets fall, before desperation kicked in and he mistimed a Swepson delivery to become the maiden wicket for the debutant. The hosts were able to muster just 148 runs in 53 overs before getting bowled out handing Australia a humongous lead of 409 runs. No declaration Late in the day, Australia chose not to declare, possibly because of their agony from 2001 when VVS Laxman’s 281 changed the course of Test match history and template about how to play in the subcontinent. At the end of day’s play, Australia were leading the game by 489 runs, having scored 81/1 in 17 overs. Marnus Labuschange and Usman Khawaja were on the crease batting at 37 and 35 respectively. Learnings With two more days to be played, Australia would be hoping to take another 10 wickets to win this match considering the way their entire unit bowled on the day. Hasan Ali, speaking after the stated that the clear difference between the bowling of the two sides was the extra pace that Australians had. He argued that this was still a batting wicket, and hopefully Pakistan batters will see their team through once they get a chance to bat here again. The biggest learning of the day is obviously that the skill and ability of the Australian pacers ruled over the planning, plotting and reservation from the PCB over their pitch. In an attempt to make a pitch that would suit their batters, they forgot that, Australia not only had an equal batting line-up to theirs but had a multi-skilled bowling unit, spearheaded by a captain, who was extremely proud to wear the Baggy Green. Pat Cummins and his fast bowling cartel put on a show that Pakistan cricket fans hoped that their team would, on Australia's return to Pakistan. There are still two more days to go in this Test match and it is safe to say that Pakistan need to make it a banger of a contest to survive. Australia's performance on Day 2 has made sure that Pakistan cricket fans got the match that they craved for after the horrible pitch saga that has engulfed his series - A gladitorial contest, that ensures the survivability of Test cricket in the fast moving world.

IND vs SL | Day-night Test: Game, set, series...India complete clean sweep

India continued their dominance at home as the Rohit Sharma-led side clinched a whitewash win in the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. The hosts bundled out the Lankan Lions for 208 while chasing 447 in the second innings in Bengaluru to conclude the match within a span of three days. Sri Lanka had lost an early wicket in the chase after Lahiru Thirimane was trapped in front of the stumps by Jasprit Bumrah for zero. But Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis tried to steady the ship for the side as the two batters chipped in with a partnership of 97 runs for the second wicket. But Mendis was then shown the exit gate after he was stumped out by Rishabh Pant off Ashwin for 54 and his dismissal certainly broke the shackles as the visiting side lost wickets at regular intervals. While the skipper Karunaratne showed some mettle and held the fort at one end, he didn’t really get any support on the other side. The left-hander was pretty much patient during the course of his knock but didn’t shy away from putting away the deliveries that fell in his radar. The captain’s innings finally came to an end after he was cleaned up by a perfect ball from Jasprit Bumrah for 107 off 174, a knock that included 15 fours. The Sri Lankan team never really looked in control during the chase in Bengaluru. R Ashwin who has now become the 8th highest wicket-taker in Test cricket bagged a four-wicket haul while Jasprit Bumrah had three scalps to his name. Axar Patel also picked up two wickets. India had already won the first encounter in Mohali. “It's been a good run, enjoyed it personally and as a team, there were so many things we wanted to achieve and I think we did. No doubt about it (on Ravindra Jadeja), we have seen him grow as a batter, he seems to be getting better and better, at 7, he strengthens the batting, and he's a complete package, with his fielding and bowling, brings a lot to the team,” Rohit Sharma said after the match.