Rishabh Pant praised Kohli, said Kohli teaches how to deal with pressure situations

Melbourne. Star wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant says Virat Kohli’s immense experience helps him deal with pressure situations. Pant also expressed hope that he will be able to rebuild his batting partnership with former captain Kohli in the team’s first match against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup here on Sunday.

The T20 World Cup website quoted Pant as saying that he (Kohli) can actually teach you how to deal with situations which can help you in your cricketing journey in future. So batting with him is as good as ever. “It’s good to have someone with a lot of experience to bat with you because he can tell you how to take the game and keep the pressure going with one run in each ball,” he said.

Unbeaten half-centuries from Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam helped Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets in the T20 World Cup last year. India had scored 151 for seven but Pakistan chased down the target without losing any wickets. Twenty-five-year-old Pant, apart from playing an innings of 39 runs, added 53 runs with the then captain Kohli. Pant said that I remember that I had hit two sixes in the same over of Hasan Ali. We were just trying to increase the run rate because we lost early wickets and we had a partnership – me and Virat.

The wicket-keeper batsman said we were increasing the run rate and I hit him for two sixes with one hand… my special shot. Talking about the experience of playing with arch-rivals Pakistan, Pant said that playing against Pakistan is always special as there is always a special kind of hype surrounding that match. He added that there are a lot of emotions attached not only to us but to the fans and everyone. It’s a different feeling, when you step on the field there is a different atmosphere and you see people cheering. Pant said that it was a different atmosphere and when we were singing the national anthem it really gave me goosebumps.