Rishabh Pant has stepped up after being named India’s new Test vice-captain. Often criticised for his brash play and labelled irresponsible, the wicketkeeper batter decided to take more time than usual to score his 5th fifty or above score in England.
Pant came into the middle with a good platform set by KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill. The two openers and Sai Sudharsan had departed but captain Gill was still in the middle. The score was 221/3 after 52.3 overs.
On just his second ball, Pant stepped out and smashed Ben Stokes over his head for a boundary. The England captain couldn’t help himself and laughed out loud after Pant’s audacious shot. He chirped something at the southpaw, but he didn’t respond.
Pant curbs natural instinct
Considering that it was a good batting pitch and the English bowlers weren’t great with their lines and lengths, one would assume Pant would go all guns blazing. Well, that didn’t happen. The Indian vice-captain didn’t bat like his usual self.
He blocked Stokes, Chris Woakes, and even spinner Shoaib Bashir. At one point, Pant had scored just 16 (41). Very unlike himself. You could feel that Pant was itching. And finally, he took Bashir down in the 74th over. One shot went to fine leg, a deft paddle. The next sailed over Bashir’s head for a six.
You’d assume Pant would break all shackles. He’d entered his 40s now. But no, that didn’t happen. This wasn’t the same Pant that we had been watching for 8 years now. Unlike before, the wicketkeeper was picking the perfect time and ball to hit. One might say his unpredictability made him one of the best Test batters to watch.
Having got the responsibility of being India’s vice-captain, Pant curbed his instinct and still succeeded. This goes on to show his immense talent. Earlier, Yashasvi Jaiswal had done the same. Perhaps Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s absence spurred him on to take more ownership of his wicket. Whatever the reason was, Pant did splendidly.
Despite playing slow by his standards, Pant reached his fifty in 91 balls. He also became the second-fastest wicketkeeper to score 3,000 runs in Test cricket, after Adam Gilchrist. Pant got there in 76 innings; the Australian had done so in 63 outings. He also surpassed MS Dhoni’s tally of 1731 runs in SENA countries by an Asian wicketkeeper.
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