I can't just pre-meditate that I'm going to play this way – Rishabh Pant

It was a strong show of resilience from Rishabh Pant in Sydney as the southpaw fought his way to a valiant 40, despite copping severe blows on the opening day of the final Test.

He was the leading run-scorer for India as they were skittled out for 185. Talking at the press conference at the end of the day’s play, Rishabh Pant dissected the mood in the center while underscoring the challenges that the batters had to brave.

Pant said, “I think in this innings I was not in a frame of mind where I wanted to take charge of the game because the wicket was doing too much. And the kind of situation we were in and while playing inside I felt like I could do like play a little bit of defensive cricket yes there is a time to attack but when you have to feel that from inside. I can't just pre-meditate that I'm going to play this way whatever the game asked me to do on that given day that's what I try to do and that was the mindset."

Highlighting why Pant wanted to play out a defensive game rather than his naturally aggressive strokeplay, the southpaw added, “I think it's a little bit not very difficult. Yes, initial part would be very difficult because when you see a ball which you can hit but sometimes you have to play more sensible cricket, I would say. Like there might be 50-50 chance which I could have taken early on in this innings but sometimes you have to play more secure cricket especially the way [SCG] wicket was behaving we knew that if we get one more wicket here we might lose two-three in a quick succession so that was the idea behind the way I was playing and last match there was nothing much to do the kind of target we had I think I had to play that [defensively] way so I think pretty fine with the way I'm playing.”

Pant’s valiant 40 laced with Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja’s resistance allowed India to post 185. To make things slightly better, Bumrah’s removal of Usman Khwaja allowed India to finish the day on a high. They will be hoping to take the momentum by the scruff of its neck as they step out to the center for the second day.