After Rishabh Pant‘s brilliant century in the first innings of the first Test match against England, former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri was full of praise for the dynamic wicketkeeper-batter. In addition to pushing India’s innings beyond 450, Rishabh Pant 134 off 178 balls set other records.
Rishabh Pant started his career under Shastri’s tutelage and has since made a strong return to international cricket after a near-fatal automobile accident in 2022. Pant has a close relationship with the Mumbai native, having played 79 games in all forms while Shastri was head coach. Shastri shared his thoughts about the southpaw and how he knocked England at Headingley.
“To start, he is ridiculous. That was evident the moment I laid eyes on him. And what I saw pleased me. since he is unique among them. He has his own rules. He’ll play the numbers game sometimes. Sometimes he will simply follow his thoughts. For you, that’s Rishabh Pant. Following the conclusion of play on Day 2, he informed the BCCI, “There’s a package there that can be extremely dangerous in Test match cricket.”
He criticises the opposition: Shastri
Twelve boundaries and six sixes, including a one-handed maximum to achieve the three-figure milestone, were scattered throughout the young player’s innings. He performed a somersault to celebrate his sixth Test tonne. By doing so, he broke the record for the most hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper-batter, surpassing MS Dhoni’s six-hundred-run total. Notably, Jonny Bairstow’s 140 is currently the greatest score by a wicketkeeper at Headingley, with his 134 ranking second.
Shastri discussed Rishabh Pant reliability at number five.
And I believe he has been incredibly reliable ever since he moved into that No. 5 position. For instance, you could be tempted to send someone else if you’re thirty for three. However, he can change the outcome of the game because he is so aggressive. The former head coach went on, “and then for the others to take full advantage of it.”
Another way to look at it is that if he has a platform like he did today, he will arrive after lunch with a score of more than 100 in this innings. He has the power to make you pay for it. due to the bravery and the range of shots. In other words, how many people will hit the second ball down the ground? What the heck? The message is directed towards the opposition. I’m not here to play around, you know. “I’m here to attack you,” Shastri continued.
India scored 471, the lowest total in Test history for a team with three centuries in an innings, thanks to Rishabh Pant, skipper Shubman Gill’s 147, the second-highest score by an Indian in his Test captaincy debut, and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century.
The home team rallied despite the outstanding batting performance. England’s innings was stabilised by the 122-run partnership between Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope. At Stumps, Pope, who is batting at 100*, takes advantage of missed opportunities to lead the side to 209-3.