After Rishabh, another Pant ready to star for India cricket team at U19 level

Pranav Pant, who has been included in the Indian cricket squad for the Men’s U-19 Asia Cup 2024, was a multisport athlete as a kid and going by his performances across sports, could have been comfortable in most of the games he played.

The southpaw, who will turn 18 on November 20, is currently leading the Delhi under-19 team against Karnataka in a Cooch Behar match in Alur, Bengaluru.

“No one in my family was into sports. But I was hooked to many games. I used to do skating, swimming, karate, played basketball and football (for school), and did taekwondo. I represented Delhi in taekwondo and was picked for Delhi cricket team for school nationals (School Games Federation of India competition),” says Pant who began playing cricket when he was in Class 1.

He also won gold medal for Delhi in skating at sub-junior level.

But it was on the insistence of his coach Ravinder Singh that he began to focus only on cricket after fifth standard at the Presidium School, Ashok Vihar, which was later renamed as Prudence School.

After completing eighth, Pant decided to go for Open School and fully focus on cricket.

Ravinder, an NIS qualified coach, ran an academy in Rohini and Pant began going there.  

“Since then (when he switched to Open School), my routine was to train and practice for about 10 hours every day,” says the player, who is among the most talked-about players in the Capital.  

The Keshav Puram, Lawrence Road resident, who divides time between Ravinder’s academy in Rohini in West Delhi and another academy in Vasundhara Enclave in East Delhi, had a rough experience early on that forced him to become an all-rounder.

“I was always a batsman at the start. But at the time of under-14 school nationals, due to some politics I couldn’t get selected as a bowler so my coach asked me to bowl. I performed at the zonals and inter-zonals and that is how I got interested in bowling,” he tells www.thedelhijunction.com

He has been playing Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) league cricket for Golden Hawks for the last three years.  

Consistent performance in league earned him accolades and also a Delhi Premier League contract this year.

He shone in BCCI’s under-19 one-dayers this season amassing 331 runs with three half-centuries and a century in five matches. He took six scalps, the highest for Delhi. He also scored a century in the first match of the Cooch Behar Trophy this season against Odisha. As of Thursday, Delhi are on the cusp of beating Karnataka in a low-scoring affair at Alur, Bengaluru.

The Rishabh Pant contact

Pranav Pant shares his surname with the illustrious Rishabh Pant.

“I idolise Rishabh Pant when it comes to batting. I really admire the way he takes the game forward and plays. How he adjusts. I met him at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). I used to play table tennis with a group of friends and he would also come and join us. Rishabh bhaiya told me to persist and keep working hard,” recalls Pant, who has attended NCA thrice.  

“I was picked for the NCA under-16 camp but was called up for the NCA under-19 camp immediately after that. I got called up to the under-19 camp directly from the under-16 camp,” says Pant, who impressed VVS Laxman, Sitanshu Kotak, and Troy Cooley at the Bengaluru facility of NCA as an under-16 player.

He is also an admirer of Virat Kohli’s ‘mindset’.

“I like how he manages phases, ups and downs, his work ethic. I also liked (former South Africa paceman) Dale Steyn. Dale Steyn was my favourite bowler and (England’s) Ben Stokes my favourite all-rounder. I learn little, little things from everyone.”

Tags : Pranav Pant, Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli, Dale Steyn, Ben Stokes, India cricket team, under-19, Delhi cricket, U-19 Asia Cup