Team India Test captain Virat Kohli on Monday (December 10) talked about mistakes made by wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant in the second Test against South Africa and in the process, Kohli also revealed an important piece of advice he got from former India skipper MS Dhoni.
Kohli said that the management have had conversations within the practice sessions ahead of the third Test against South Africa starting at the Newlands Cricket Ground from Tuesday. The 33-year-old batter added that Pant is someone who reflects on his mistakes and will make improvements on them in the future.
In the second innings of the second Test at Johannesburg, Pant played a reckless shot to be out for zero. After being beaten outside the off-stump, Kagiso Rabada rattled Pant with a snorter of delivery, by hitting him on the gloves through a ball that bounced a bit. On the very next ball, Pant stepped out to slog on a short ball from Rabada but gave a feather edge behind to Verreynne. The manner of dismissal brought a lot of criticism for Pant from all quarters.
"We have had conversations with Rishabh Pant at practice. The batters know before everybody else whether they've played a shot to get out was the right shot or not. As long as an individual, everyone has to accept that responsibility, I think progress happens from there. We have had made mistakes in our careers in important situations," said Kohli in the pre-match press conference on Monday.
"We have been out due to pressure or our mistakes or even the bowler's skills. It is important to understand what was player's mindset and decision at that moment and where did the person make the mistake. Once we find our mistake, we can understand and improve upon it to make sure it doesn't happen," added Kohli.
Kohli then went on to reveal an advice Dhoni gave him on making mistakes in international cricket.
"MS Dhoni gave me very good advice in the start. He once told me 'there should be a gap of at least 7-8 months between repeating one and another mistake. Only then can you have a long career in international cricket."
"This piece of advice really stuck with me that I won't make the same mistake all over again. It happens when you reflect upon your mistakes, which Rishabh does. I know this and will definitely improve going ahead. He will make sure that in important situations, he will stand for the team and will give a big performance after improving from his mistakes."
