'Trying to improve myself each and every day,' says Rishabh Pant after his maiden ODI half-century

After a string of poor performances, underfire Rishabh Pant finally came good as he scored his maiden ODI fifty against West Indies in the opening ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The youngster has been under scrutiny for quite long due to his carefree attitude and giving away his wicket at crucial junctures in the game.

After being at the receiving end of stern criticism, Rishabh Pant somewhat salvaged his reputation with a well compiled 71 against the Windies in the opening encounter. The southpaw shared a crucial stand of 114 runs with Shreyas Iyer and ensured India reached a competitive score of 287 on the board in their allotted 50 overs.

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Following his impressive knock, Pant said that he is going through a learning curve in his career where he is learning each day. He has been under the scanner for a long time and the knock will surely ease up things.

"Personally, if I play for India, every innings is important for me. As a youngster I want to improve each and every day," Pant remarked.

"From an individual point of view, I was trying to improve myself each and every day but I wasn't getting there. I'm not saying I got there, but I try to improve. It's my learning curve, I'm thinking that. From team's point of view, whatever I can do to help my team win, to have a good score on the scoreboard, that's what I was focusing. In the end, I got some runs."

Pant’s knock deserves special applause given the fact the team was under pressure when he came into bat. India were reduced to 80/3 having lost crucial wickets of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. While shot selection has been an area of concern for Pant, he showed maturity and curbed his natural instincts during the initial part of his innings.

He played a few big shots but his strokeplay was a lot restrained. Pant further reiterated the fact that he has realised that there is nothing as natural game in international cricket.

"I've realised after playing a fair bit at the international level that unlike at amateur levels of cricket, there isn't anything like a natural game," said the 21-year-old.

"At the international level, you have to play according to the situation or what the team demands. As an individual and as a player I want to focus on my processes. All the talk going around, they're good and sometimes they're not. At the moment, I'm concentrating on my game and that will hold me in good stead."

The southpaw who has been receiving a lot of flak for his poor shot selection stated that he always believes in his abilities and it keeps him motivated during difficult times.

"I will always tell a person that you have to believe in yourself. It doesn't matter what the people say around you. Sometimes you don't get runs, sometimes you get runs but the process is always important," said the wicket-keeper-batsman.

"If I'm practising I'm thinking about cricket. If I'm off the field, I'm not thinking about it too much. I talked to the team management and they told me, 'just calm yourself. See what you can do around to improve your game, improve your fitness. Just try to improve yourself in every factor.'"

India will look to level the three match ODI series when they lock horns against West Indies in the 2nd ODI at Vishakapatnam on Wednesday.