Rishabh Pant is taking diving catches, hugging Yashasvi Jaiswal, and laughing out loud with Gurjapneet Singh. Two days out from India's one-off Test against Afghanistan in New Chandigarh, the temperature is touching 40°C. Even in this sapping heat, Pant, donning a blue floppy hat, is in his element.
After 20 minutes of catching drills and fun at the main venue, he moves to the B ground for batting practice. He is now facing local spinners. The focus is on defence. After a big front-foot stride, Pant leans forward and defends right under his eyes. He does this ball after ball. Occasionally, he breaks the mould and launches one over the bowler's head. One of those hits clears the boundary fence and lands into the adjacent dump yard.
Even after nine years in international cricket and on the cusp of his 50th Test, Pant the batter remains a paradox. Given his vast range of orthodox and unorthodox shots, he should be a natural fit in T20s. Still, he has always looked more at home in Test cricket.
Since Pant's Test debut in 2018, no India batter has scored more runs than him, and only Ravindra Jadeja has matched his tally of 26 50-plus scores. In fact, a strong case can be made that he is one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batters Test cricket has ever seen.
Now, he is returning to the Test arena after one of his leanest IPL seasons. In the lead-up to the tournament, he had trained under Yuvraj Singh, and was expected to unlock new gears. Instead, in a year where the scoring rates touched unprecedented heights, he finished with 312 runs at a strike rate of 138.05.
It was ironic, but perhaps fitting, that when his franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer tried to defend him, he had to turn to Test cricket: "We've seen him in Test cricket destroy teams at No. 5."
Pant began IPL 2026 as an opener, but the experiment lasted just one game. He then shifted to No. 3 for a few games before vacating that spot for Nicholas Pooran, and dropped to No. 4. In LSG's final game of the season, he came out at No. 5. Such shuffling can be justified if it is for any other regular batter. But when the player in question is also the captain, it is not a good look.
Pant's stocks as captain also took a big hit. LSG started handsomely with two wins in three games but managed only two more victories from the remaining 11, and finished with a wooden spoon. On more than one occasion, Pant spoke about having too many voices in the dressing room.
Langer tried to shield him. "As a captain in the IPL, you got to keep fronting up, don't you?" he said after one of the defeats. "He knows he is carrying a lot of pressure for the team, and he does it with a smile on his face 98% of the time."
Pant does have a naturally cheerful and chatty persona. But as the defeats kept piling, the smile at the post-match chats became increasingly forced. He struggled for words, often ending his replies with an awkward chuckle. With every loss, he looked more frustrated and emotionally drained.
Eventually, he could not keep up the façade. After LSG's ninth defeat in 13 games, he snapped: "We are a f***ing good team". He continued to front up, but once LSG's campaign ended, he didn't wait for the tournament to get over to resign from captaincy.
It is no secret that Pant is yet to find the right template for white-ball cricket. He last played a T20I almost two years ago, when India travelled to Sri Lanka in 2024. His latest ODI was also on the same tour. Earlier this year, he was picked as a back-up to KL Rahul for the home ODIs against New Zealand. But a side strain on the eve of the first match ruled him out of the series. When India announced the squad for the upcoming ODI series against Afghanistan, Pant was dropped for Ishan Kishan.
In red-ball cricket, meanwhile, he was India's vice-captain. In their most recent Test, against South Africa in Guwahati last November. He even led the side in the injury-forced absence of Shubman Gill. In the current squad, Pant is the second-most experienced player after Rahul. But while he was going through the ordeal in the IPL, the national selectors removed him as vice-captain.
"We want him to become the best Test player that he has always been," chief selector Ajit Agarkar said of the decision. "We have gone with two different [wicketkeeping] options in one-day cricket, but in Test cricket, he remains one of our main players."
So, it's not all doom and gloom. It is also understood that a big reason behind Pant relinquishing the LSG captaincy was his desire to focus on becoming the best batter he can be. And in Test cricket, we might see him curbing his flamboyant style at times to play the situation.
"I actually heard him and Gauti [head coach Gautam Gambhir] having a chat yesterday," India's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said, "about how you want to conduct yourself as a senior player extends to your communication but also how you are going to play. With Rishabh's brilliance, we don't want to take away all the stuff he does, but occasionally if he can adjust his game to play the situation slightly more - that is something you will see him work on."
Perhaps that explains Pant's defensive approach at the nets.
Even when he was having a hard time in the IPL, one major accolade came his way on the back of his Test performances. His 479 runs at an average of 68.43 on last year's England tour resulted in him being named one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year.
As India face Afghanistan in this one-off Test, Pant has a chance to show once again why he remains a force in Test cricket.