Dear Rishabh Pant,
I know the address sounds pretty formal but then we fans are still to know a shorter name for you. I believe with time, it will come and when it does, not just us but the world will be much more familiar to the real you.
I am pretty sure that you must have taken a look at social media and how people have been hellbent to demonize you, saying that you were downright wrong in what you did. Well, being honest, I feel that your intentions were absolutely right but then again maybe at that very moment, you could have kept the game going on because those last three balls were a matter of momentum.
And momentum swung your way when Powell hammered Obed McCoy to the stands for the first three balls. A bowler who gave away 50 runs already till then, could have very well been the scapegoat to Powell’s supremacy only if the nerves seemed a bit more settled.
It never felt like McCoy could defend those 36 runs because he had no clue about what was happening. However, that short break helped him pull out that much-important dot ball. Rishabh, it’s okay to act as you did. In fact, you were not the only one. Joel Garner pulled off such a stunt, MS Dhoni did so and cricketing history goes a long back with captains protesting and umpires sticking stringently to his arrogant mistake.
You, Rishabh Pant, know that you are just one of us. You have all the emotions that we go through. You have all the feelings that we feel. People believe that the ones at the other end of the camera need to be exactly perfect with everything in a picture-perfect situation. However, they forget that they aren’t observing a God in action. Well, mythology states, that even Gods have done mistakes and quite big ones.
Under that heat, under that constant urge to push your team forward and under the eagle eyes of a camera, it is simply not easy to maintain all the gentlemanship that one expects from an athlete. It is okay Pant to be what you are.
However, there are times when you need to understand that your team’s momentum is more important than an individual moment. This narrative could have easily changed only if Powell would have batted with the same momentum. Umesh Yadav hammered McCoy for 20 runs in an over and with the kind of leaky bowling that McCoy comes with it, it could have easily swung your way.
This will be a lesson for you, Rishabh Pant. Especially when Watto walked up to you and told you what should have been done, I believe no moment can be bigger than that. It is okay Rishabh to do what you did and we fans will stand by you, no matter what.
Yours sincerely,
A crazy cricket lover.
