When Rishabh Pant bats, it feels like he is capturing the thrill of life. He is endlessly fascinating, mostly exhilarating, occasionally staid and never boring.
Yet, for all the razzmatazz he brings, his presence in the middle is uniquely comforting. No Indian batter in recent times has played as many match-turning knocks as Pant in Test whites.
Day four of the opening Test against England at Headingley provided another opportunity for the dashing batter to showcase his worth.
The southpaw did not disappoint, scoring his second ton of the match (118, 140b, 15×4, 3×6) to join a select band of six other Indians to have achieved the feat (Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma).
With Rahul (137, 247b, 18×4) – whose style and methods are in direct aesthetic confrontation to Pant’s but no less effective – he combined for 195 first-rate, fourth-wicket runs (in 280 balls).
The partnership helped India leave England with a 371-run target to chase. The hosts reached 21 for no loss at stumps, setting up a mouth-watering last day even as the threat of rain looms large. Curiously, Leeds is the only ground in the world where targets 350 or more have been chased successfully twice.
– N. Sudarshan
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ENG vs IND, 1st Test Day 4: Rahul, Pant hundreds help India post 371-run target for England
The hosts reached 21 for no loss at stumps, setting up a mouth-watering last day even as the threat of rain looms large.
