Pant apologized and resumed his dead-batting practice. He has recently been seen batting mostly at the nets or before or after games. His keenness is unmistakableu2014even in the scorching heat of Dubai, he is frequently the first to pad up and the last to un-pad. 
    The actual outings in the middle have been few and far between. He did not bat in the last two games, against South Africa on Wednesday and Australia in Nagpur, and was benched for the first two against Australia.
    But it’s all the more reason to give him adequate game time in the middle, not only so he can get some morale-boosting runs under his belt, but also so he can get a better understanding of his role and become more accustomed to it. The team has yet to determine his best function, where he would fit in best: finisher, floater, or middle-order destroyer. Pant himself appears befuddled and cluttered.
    The first game of the series against South Africa seemed ideal, especially after the visitors were limited to 106 runs. However, with the strip still providing some assistance for seamers and South Africa possessing two of the best in the business, they took a more conservative approach and stuck to the standard permutation. 
    However, there are two more games left, and Pant and Karthik may be given more time to bat in a real game rather than at the nets or during warm-ups.

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