The pitches at the nets in Hicksville, New York are just as spicy as the ones in the ground at Westbury, New York. Over the last few days, the South African batters have been practical and have faced little of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada, who have been asked to bowl in an empty net. On Friday, Rohit Sharma was hit by one that reared off a length and after a while went to the other end to take throwdowns. Virat Kohli has been showing his class against some tough bowling before trying to hit out in the second half of his nets sessions.
Amid all this, one batter has been fighting it out relentlessly. Rishabh Pant has perhaps taken the most blows in the Cantiague Park nets, but he has continued to bat despite the pain. He was also the only one from the main XI that turned up for India's optional nets a day before their first match of this T20 World Cup. Despite all the blows, he is just having fun. He started today's session batting right-hand against the spinners before the rest of the team joined in. He went back to his left-hand stance for the nets, but that didn't stop him from turning into a right-hand batter and play outrageous shots. Just like the one he played to end the last match: a reverse ramp to a fast bowler straight over the keeper's head for a six.
You watch Pant swinging the bat so hard, generating such bat speed that sometimes he ends up sweeping himself off his feet, and you can't help but feel the gratitude he must be feeling that he is able to do all these outrageous things again after his horrific accident a year and a half ago. To do so for India in a World Cup is no less than a miracle. On top of that, in both of India's matches - a warm-up game against Bangladesh and their first match in the tournament proper - Pant has been the best batter on view.
Before the IPL started, when Pant started his comeback, India didn't even have Pant in their plans. You can't blame them. Once he showed his form, though, and once Jitesh Sharma lost form, Pant was back in. By accident or design, Pant has solved one structural problem, and also found himself his best batting slot.
India came into this World Cup having to sacrifice the left-hand opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in order to accommodate Shivam Dube's disruptive hitting in the middle. That did leave India susceptible to a slow start against left-arm spin. Having batted in the top three only 11 times out of 66 for India, Pant was not the natural option to open. Even for Delhi Capitals in his comeback year, Pant hardly batted in the top three.
India, though, came up with the most practical solution. They picked the left-hand keeper from the two available, and pushed Suryakumar Yadav down to throw in a left-hand batter in the top three. The plan seems to be this: Rohit plays aggressively even against less-than-ideal match-ups, and Pant takes over should Rohit perish trying to do that.
Batting coach Vikram Rathour was asked if Pant was thrown in there because he is a left-hand batter. "He has been batting really well," Rathour said. "The two games he has played, he has looked really, really good. So yes, at the moment he is our No. 3, and it helps that he is the left-hander."
By accident, it opens up an avenue for Pant, who started out as an opener and prefers to take a little bit of time before he starts attacking. Batting at No. 3 gives him that semi-luxury. Also, the conditions so far haven't called for ultra-aggressive batting, and it seems it will be the case for the rest of the tournament.
If you watch Pant's interview about his comeback on Star Sports, you can sense the frustration and the desperation he went through in the period that he was out. With such accidents, you always start out being thankful you are still alive but that anger soon kicks in when you need assistance even to get up. Then once you start being self-dependent, you feel frustrated you can't do what you used to do. And you have to repeat the same boring steps to recovery every day.
Pant has managed to conquer all that, and has beaten every clock to come back on the international cricket field so quickly. He deserves these small strokes of luck that have produced just the spot in the starting XI that he can thrive in.