press stop. Rishabh Pant is batting.
He is a crowd puller. He is young. He is shameless. He dances to his own tune. Rishabh Pant is a modern-day superstar who will propel you to heights of ecstasy before bringing you down with a brute force. It will spoil your mental state. Should I entertain this shamelessly? Or is what he did in the end deserves a complete crime? Try to make sense of it, you will fail.
Friday was one such occasion when Pant delighted a crowd gathered in Mohali to celebrate the career of a certain Virat Kohli as he became just the 12th Indian to play in 100 Tests. The first half of the day belonged to Kohli but by the time the bails were pulled, Pant had removed Kohli from centerstage.
How, you may ask. Well, he did what we all wanted him to do. And then what do we do?
Pant was calm by his standards after walking in to bat during the first day of the Mohali Test. This was the need of the hour. He made a quiet start but came out in time to send the ball across the boundary to remind him of who he really is. But he was silent. 50 out of 75. The calm before the coming storm?
Yes.
Ask Lasith Embuldeniya, who would have been on cloud 9 after dismissing Kohli with a brilliant delivery, reducing his innings to 45 runs earlier in the day. As if to avenge his senior teammate, Pant launched an unprovoked, all-round attack in the 76th over, bowled by the left-arm spinner.
The Sri Lankan players had kept the fielders on the boundary, anticipating Pant to be the target soon. They were right. But the Indian braved the challenge and freed him with two staggering sixes twice in a row. And then hit two fours in the over after that. Dhananjay de Silva was also not spared as he was caught in the crossfire. Pant hit a four and a six off his successive deliveries.
In the blink of an eye, Pant was 93 for 89 – batting 50 for 75 before the attack began. The milestone was waiting.
Remember that part when I wrote about despair? Yes, followed it.
Sri Lanka took the second new ball soon after Pammeling. A mounted Pant then offered a defence, which would have caught everyone’s attention for what he had done earlier in his innings. An accidental attempt to block a length delivery from Suranga Lakmal left an open path for the ball to go through his defense and hit the stumps. And just like that Pant’s astonishing attack came crashing down on 96.
Pant took Lakmal very lightly while playing his final series, forgetting that the 34-year-old had long been the spearhead of Lanka’s pace attack and has the ability to move the ball both ways with the new ball.
But the anti-climax is part of the deal that comes with someone like Pant. You’ll love the ride it takes you along but it’s never a guarantee that the ending will be as impressive. And that’s exactly what happened in Mohali.
The innings was another example of how quickly Pant can single-handedly take the game away from you, when you allow him or when he is in the mood.
In his nine Test innings in India, Pant has been dismissed four times in the 90s. He has five fifties and a century to his name in India and yet to panic his dismissal in the 90s would be a gross injustice to his talent and his brand of batting. He just doesn’t care; He is like a juggler who is almost impossible to stop, unless he himself wants to.
He doesn’t even care about reputation. Ask James Anderson who did he reverse scoop so casually during the Test in Ahmedabad that surprised us and asked him: How dare you? But he doesn’t care.
He won’t care what you think about his shot selection. He will play them when the mood is bad. He will win the game without expecting you. or lasts long enough to ensure a draw. Or even fight a lone battle to keep you in the game.
That’s the package deal with him.
Stop the press as Rishabh Pant is batting.
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