Leeds [UK], June 23 (ANI): India vice-captain Rishabh Pant shattered a handful of records with his flamboyant yet composed century on Day 4 of the second innings of the first Test against England at Headingley.
After his 134(178) exploits in the first innings, Pant acted as the catalyst, with KL Rahul serving as the driving force, as they forged a rollicking 195-run partnership to put India in control of the proceedings. Pant switched from his natural belligerent instinct to a robust defensive technique according to the need of the hour.
He had to bid his time and slowly moved from 96 to 99. Eventually, he carved the ball towards the deep point off Shoaib Bashir and scurried for a single to become the first Indian batter to smash a century in each innings of a Test in England.
Pant also entered India’s special twin centuries club, featuring icons Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (3), Rahul Dravid (2), Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rohit Sharma.
The 27-year-old swashbuckler joined an exclusive club and became the second designated wicketkeeper batter to boast hundreds in each innings after Andy Flower, who achieved the feat against South Africa in Harare in 2001 with scores of 142 and 199*.
Pant also joined Don Bradman, Hansie Cronje, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kumar Sangakkara, and Daryl Mitchell among visiting batters with five consecutive 50-plus scores in England, with Australia’s talismanic star Steven Smith heading the list with seven.
The explosive southpaw finished his time with the bat in the series opener with 134 and 118 (252), the highest match aggregate for a designated wicketkeeper in a Test in England, bettering Alec Stewart’s 204 (40 & 164) against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1998.
Pant’s knock concluded with nine sixes, the joint-most by a batter in a Test in England, equaling the efforts of Andrew Flintoff (vs Aus, Edgbaston, 2005) and captain Ben Stokes (vs Aus, Lord’s, 2023).
Overall, during his fruitful run in England, Pant has garnered 808 runs at an average of 42.52 in 10 Tests and 19 innings, with four centuries and two fifties. His strike rate is 69.89.
After arriving at the landmark, Sunil Gavaskar asked Pant to celebrate his century with a somersault. However, Pant avoided the gymnastic play and saved it for the next time. Pant embraced his ideology to inflict a blitzkrieg and unleashed a scathing attack on Joe Root in the next over. On the first ball, he went for a reverse sweep, missed the ball completely, and the ball raced away for a four. On the next ball, he leaned forward and thwarted the ball for a boundary.
On the third delivery, Pant truly was in his element as he carved the ball over deep extra cover to clear the boundary rope for a one-handed maximum. Bashir pulled the curtains down on Pant’s knock by luring him to hole the ball straight to Zak Crawley and punched his return ticket on 118(140). (ANI)
