Rishabh Pant 2.0 – Can he now cement his place in all three formats for India?
In the last few years, Rishabh Pant has been one of the most talked-about players in Indian cricket. Whoever has watched him bat, has agreed that he has enormous talent. But, his international career hasn’t really taken off. But, with incredible performances for the Test team, it seems that maybe the Delhi player has finally got his act together.
Rishabh first broke out to the scene when he scored the fastest fifty in the 2016 junior World Cup match against Nepal. He was picked up by the Delhi Daredevils soon. The Indian team call-up came and with MS Dhoni certain to retire from the white-ball game in a few years’ time, it seemed like the right time to try a youngster like Pant.
But, Pant’s inclusion didn’t meet the expectation. At the IPL, everyone had seen his destructive batting but somehow it was not coming together at the international level. However, his first-class record was stellar. By the time, Pant made his Test debut for India, his batting average was already above 50. As a wicketkeeper, no one was scoring as many runs as he was in the Ranji Trophy.
Red ball heroics
Youngest keepers to score a century in Tests:
20y 148d – Ajay Ratra v WI, St John’s, 2002
20y 338d – Rishabh Pant v England, The Oval, 2018*
21y 183d – Vijay Manjrekar v WI, Kingston, 1953— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) September 11, 2018
His IPL exploits kept everyone optimistic about his white-ball game. But, the control which he showed in red-ball cricket was surprising for some. He has a century in England and Australia, something which no wicketkeeper from India can claim. But, in white-ball cricket, he regularly failed to convert a good start into a big score.
For a fearless player like Rishabh, scoring quickly has never been a problem. Hence, his inclusion in the upcoming white-ball series’ against England shouldn’t surprise any fan. He has been quite magnificent in red-ball cricket, having scored four consecutive fifties in four Tests.
The winning moment ?#AUSvIND | #WTC21 pic.twitter.com/skaJTXB055
— ICC (@ICC) January 19, 2021
His knocks against Australia were more impressive because he had so much control over his hitting. The unbeaten 89 in the Gabba Test, which helped his team win the historic series, had everything which a good Test match innings demands. He took his time early on to understand how the pitch was playing and then he didn’t explode like everyone would have expected. Instead, he watched the balls and then took his calculative chances.
Only if he can bring this maturity to his white-ball game, he may become a regular feature in the team across formats for the next few years. It is absolutely guaranteed that his white-ball comeback is around the corner, and when it does, we can only hope that Rishabh transforms his batting form from Tests to the ODIs and T20Is.
