IND vs ENG: KL Rahul said it was best to leave Rishabh Pant to his own batting template. (AP)Not only does Rishabh Pant’s aggression and unpredictability stump the opposition teams on the field, but even his India teammates sometimes fail to understand how the mercurial wicket-keeper operates with the bat in different situations. Early on in his second-innings at Leeds on Monday, Pant’s rash hoick nearly found the fielder, shortly after India lost captain Shubman Gill in the morning session. Luckily, the Headingley breeze blowing across the turf meant the soaring ball moved towards the fine-leg boundary and Pant had his early reprieve.
The 27-year-old even corrected himself as he was heard knocking some sense into his own head on the stump-mic after another loose stroke. Pant then went onto smash his second century of the match, becoming only the second wicket-keeper in history to record twin centuries in a Test. His four hundreds in England are also the joint-best by any wicketkeeper in England, including home players. Sharing a crucial fourth-wicket partnership with opener KL Rahul, the 195-run association meant that India took the fight to the final day, setting England a 371-run target.
DK translates what Rishabh Pant was saying! 🤓🔊 pic.twitter.com/ofGWM4OfOp
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 23, 2025
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When asked how the team tempers and controls Pant’s exhilarating batting template, fellow centurion Rahul said it was perhaps best to leave Pant to decide what is best for himself and the team.
“It is hard for us to understand his mindset but you let Rishabh Pant be Rishabh Pant. There is obviously a method to his madness as he is averaging 45 in Test cricket. There is a lot of thinking about the outrageous shots he plays. You just try to calm him down as much as possible between balls,” Rahul told reporters on Monday.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri remarked that while Pant’s antics may seem to defy logic, it is not bereft of sound understanding of the conditions.
Rishabh Pant goes tumbling 😅 pic.twitter.com/1VtRUMUh2O
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 23, 2025
“People say Pant’s batting defies logic but there is an element of a sharp cricket brain behind it. He knows when to counterattack.”
“It comes off on some occasions and on others it doesn’t, but if he had converted some of those seven dismissals in the 90s he would have had a double-digit number of Test hundreds,” said Shastri.
Shastri also lauded the contrasting Rahul-Pant association in helping India maintain the advantage heading into the fifth day. “There is plenty of food for thought but India will be very happy after a technical masterpiece from Rahul and the flamboyance and exuberance that you can’t imagine from Pant,” said Shastri.
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