Rishabh Pant turned around after celebrating his century, he saw Tim Paine waving at him. Presuming the Australian captain was going to congratulate him, he walked towards him with a sheepish smile, only that Paine gestured he was not waving at him but one of his fielders. Pant realised the joke, over the last month he has learnt to second-guess him, and grinned. Later as they walked back after India’s declaration at a gobsmacking 622/7 with Pant unconquered on 159 they had what seemed like another round of light-hearted banter. They have become good friends Paine posted a picture on Instagram of Pant holding his daughter, after the baby-sitting banter.

Both seemed to laugh their guts out on something trivial. It’s exactly what Pant brings to the table apart from his primary-lightness amidst the serious business of Test cricket, a touch of comic relief on long hard days under the blistering sun. It’s spontaneous, sometimes witty, but it has made him popular among the Australian public, so much so that he will be the most missed Indian player after the tour.

Imagine a wicket-keeper’s life, while bowlers and fielders can occasionally drift, keepers can’t afford their focus to waver even for a split second, a spilled catch or stumping or a bye can lead to inexorable scrutiny.

There’s another reason he always wears a happy face and sees the funny side of life-because being happy gets the reflexes going. It was a philosophy his childhood coach, Tarak Sinha, had drilled into him when he was young. “Sir bolte hain ke khush rehne mein reflexes ache kaam karte hain,” he had once told in an interview.

The same streak of positivity permeates into his batting too, his instinct is to attack and he’s proficient at that. And he knows that too. But sometimes, when you’re teething in, young batsmen are often caught up between instinct and affected decorum. Thoughts like you are playing Test match and hence you need to decelerate your scoring rate creep in, in the end you end up doing neither. In England he tried and failed, before he unshackled the self-demons by striking a middle path during the hundred at the Oval.