'Jab zaroorat padegi...': Ex-India star recalls 18-year-old Rishabh Pant's blunt reply to not getting selected

Rishabh Pant was the star performer for India in their first Test of the five-match series against England at Headingley. The 27-year-old scored centuries in both of India's innings to massively help them in setting up a target of 371 for the hosts during the final session of Day 4. With this, he not only became the only Indian wicketkeeper-batter to score twin tons in Tests, but also became the wicketkeeper-batter from the country with the most hundreds in the format.

Pant wasn't included in Delhi's squad for Ranji Trophy

However, Pant's rise to becoming India's frontline wicketkeeper wasn't easy at all and was rather filled with obstacles. Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja recently narrated an incident from 2015 where he recalled an 18-year-old Pant's stern reply to not getting selected in Delhi's squad in the Ranji Trophy for the 2015/16 season.

Notably, Jadeja was the head coach of Delhi around that time, but had quit before the squad was announced for the Ranji Trophy. He recalled telling Pant to attend Delhi's training session before the tournament, however the wicketkeeper-batter's reply left him stunned.

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"I will never forget our first meeting. I was the coach of Delhi for a few days before quitting (in 2015). The selectors and captain kept arguing over the players they wanted to have in the team. Pant wasn't picked," Jadeja said on Sony Sports Network.

"I still told him (Pant) to attend the practice session for the Ranji Trophy, telling him that it doesn't matter that you've not been selected, there will be a chance in future," he added.

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Pant's response to this was, "Bhaiya rehne do na, jab zaroorat padegi, ghar se bulayenge (Let it be. When they'll need me, they'll pick me up from home)." Interestingly, he did go on to feature for Delhi in that same season and even scored a half-century on debut against Bengal.

Notably, Pant has great numbers when it comes to first-class cricket as well. The 27-year-old has a total of 5138 under his name in 70 matches, maintaining a fantastic average of 47.13 and also scoring 13 hundreds.