On the fourth morning of the ongoing Headingley Test, India resumed on their overnight score of 90/2 and lost captain Shubman Gill for the addition of just two runs to England pacer Brydon Carse. In walked Rishabh Pant and he got off the mark in his typical fashion by stepping out to Chris Woakes and getting a thick outside edge over the slip cordon for a four. His second boundary, also off Woakes, was more convincing 鈥 struck over the bowler鈥檚 head for four. Later, he attempted a scoop but and direct the ball onto his pad via an inside edge.
The adventurous start soon gave way to calmness with Pant realising he may soon run out of luck. He observed self-control and dropped anchor to provide a solid support to KL Rahul as India ended the opening session without further damage.
Pant鈥檚 adaptability impressed former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar who pointed out how the wicketkeeper-batter can seamlessly switch between aggression and patience.
鈥淩ishabh Pant is a great cricketing mind, so he got obsessed with the strong wind and he was trying to play everything there. He wasn鈥檛 quite convincing in the way he did it, so he decided enough of it and after that he went the other extreme where it was all block, block, blocked with a straight bat and not one shot did he play in that fashion,鈥 Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.
Manjrekar feels that Pant is capable of batting like Cheteshwar Pujara.
鈥淪o this is what you get with (Pant). This is a guy who can actually bat like a Pujara for an hour or two,鈥 he added.
Pant went on to score a sparkling hundred 鈥 his second of the ongoing contest and became the first ever Indian designated wicketkeeper-batter to score a century in each innings of a Test. He was out after scoring 118 off 140, an innings comprising 15 fours and three sixes.