Rishabh Pant “plays the numbers game beautifully and has his own computer” whose working solely he is aware of, feels former India head coach Ravi Shastri after the swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter’s audacious and entertaining present in opposition to England in the opening Test right here.
Pant hit an audacious 134 off simply 178 balls with the assist of 12 fours and 6 sixes to entertain the Headingley crowd with his unorthodox batting on Day 2. The ‘falling paddle’, the post-century somersault, there was majesty and insanity in equal measure in Pant’s memorable knock.
“Outrageous. He (Pant) plays the numbers game beautifully, plays the way he wants. He will block for a bit and then shift gears,” Shastri mentioned on Sky Sports.
“He has his own computer and only he knows how it works. That’s his USP. That’s what puts bowlers under pressure and makes him box office, a real entertainer and a match winner,” mentioned the former India all-rounder about Pant’s ‘methodology to insanity’.
The 27-year-old Pant’s knock — his seventh Test century and second since a horrific automobile crash in late 2022 that would have value him his life — was a pleasure to look at, and Shastri tried to elucidate his somersault after the hundred.
“That’s why there was that celebration. Thanking the man upstairs for giving him the opportunity,” mentioned Shastri.
“I think his recovery from that accident had a lot to do with the frame of his body and being mid-20s. When I saw him in hospital, it wasn’t a pretty sight. Knee in a mess, scars all over the place, bruises all over the place.”
Most batters wouldn’t have dared to play a giant shot when on 99 however Pant is made of various stuff as he carted off-spinner Shoaib Bashir for a one-handed six over mid-wicket to deliver up his ton.
“This fella is box office. One of the great entertainers and one of the best hundred celebrations I have seen. He’s a character, this boy,” mentioned former Surrey and Sussex batter Ian Ward whereas commentating for Sky Sports.
Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar had uttered the phrases “stupid, stupid, stupid” whereas on commentary when Pant fell to a failed scoop throughout the collection defeat in Australia. But on Saturday, he couldn’t assist however saying “superb, superb, superb” after the memorable knock in Leeds.
