Rohit Sharma was the first to pick up his kitbag and walk towards nets. The heavy Delhi smog meant Team India’s warm-up session was limited to catching practice and some light training. One by one the rest of the Indian cricketers followed their captain, except one Rishabh Pant. The wicket-keeper batsman was far from being done.

This is not to suggest, he will repeat the same thing on Sunday, a defensive Pant will be the last thing India needs in T20Is but the extra keeping drills and solid defensive pushes definitely suggest Pant has been thinking, about those top edges, those criticisms about keeping and above all, the need for a big score.

For the next 20 minutes he dived towards his left, stretched to his right, bent down quickly and worked on his keeping skills with fielding coach R Sridhar. There was nothing outrageous; it is something any keeper would do in the lead up to an international game. But Sunday’s fixture against Bangladesh is not an ordinary one for Rishabh Pant.

From being referred as the first choice ‘keeper in all three formats post the ODI World Cup, Pant suddenly lost his place in the Test XI and before he knew it, Sanju Samson the only one who gives Pant the batsman a run for his money – was breathing down his neck in the Bangladesh series.

The is no question mark over Pant’s place in the Indian side in Dhoni’s absence, even if there is the size of it isn’t big enough to form frowned eyebrows. But the Delhi stumper will be the first to admit he is due a big score. Perhaps that’s why there was refrain in Pant’s batting in the nets. Despite India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour saying, ‘Ye powerplay hai and you have a deep square leg and long on,’ Pant did not for once took the aerial route.

“We have stuck with Rishabh Pant all this while and this is the format he embraces more. This is the format that gave him a lot of attention and where he excelled. We have to stick with him for a while and see how he performs because we have seen how well he can take the game forward on his day,” said India stand-in captain Rohit Sharma.

In 19 limited overs games this year his highest score has been an unbeaten 65 in a T20I in West Indies. “We need to back him a little more. He has hardly played 10 or 15 T20Is. So, it’s very early to judge him whether he is good or not. So, I still believe there’s a lot of time left before we pass any judgment on Rishabh Pant,” said Rohit.