I have always considered Rishabh Pant a fantastic red-ball player, and he has more than enough in his cupboard to stand testimony to that. Even in England, he was brilliant before he got injured, and he has had the maximum impact for India in red-ball cricket over the last five years. That’s what made me feel that it was Pant who needed to win India the game at Eden Gardens.

He plays spin well and can counterpunch. And yet, things did not look good for him in the second innings. Off the very first ball he faced, Rishabh tried a reverse-sweep and had a narrow escape, as the ball lobbed up off his forearm. Thereafter, he went into a shell and looked tentative. It wasn’t the Pant we know, and it was only a matter of time before he got out to Simon Harmer.

In Guwahati, India, Pant, the leader and batter to step up. In the absence of Shubman Gill—who is all but ruled out, barring a miracle—it will be Pant who has to lead, and the onus will be on him to prevent a second series whitewash within 12 months on home turf. To do that, he will have to lead from the front and get his team to believe that the job can indeed be done. There is a very fine line between bravado and foolishness, and Pantt will have to work things out in his mind.

Sample this. “When I batted against Nathan Lyon in Brisbane, I knew he would want to pitch the ball on the cracks and tempt me to go after him,” Pant once told me. “He bowled one on off stump, and it spun viciously and ended up in the hands of first slip. It was natural that the bowler would want to come closer to the stumps, pitch it on middle, and get it to turn. That’s what I had planned for, and I stepped out to hit the next one for six. Lyon did not expect that, and it worked for me.”

What this explains is the method behind the madness. He isn’t someone who just does things on impulse; there is a lot of thought that goes into it. And that’s what we need to see in Guwahati. In Kolkata on Day 3, it wasn’t the Pant we know. There was no counterpunch after the first two balls, and it looked as if he was feeling the pressure in the absence of Gill.

He let the pressure of the occasion get to him, and that impacted his game. Also, he could have gone to Jasprit Bumrah at the start of the day and not to Axar Patel. While such things are far easier said in hindsight than done in the heat of the moment, the moot point is that we need to see Pant, the leader and batter, step up in Guwahati. Coming back after the injury, this is now his acid test. While he hadn’t planned for it, it is also an opportunity to showcase his leadership and prevent India from suffering a second whitewash at home against South Africa.While such things are far easier said in hindsight than done in the heat of the moment, the moot point is that we need to see Pant, the leader and batter, step up in Guwahati. Coming back after the injury, this is now his acid test. While he hadn’t planned for it, it is also an opportunity to showcase his leadership and prevent India from suffering a second whitewash at home against South Africa.