Rishabh Pant in action. (AP News)Rishabh Pant racked up two hundreds in two innings of the first Test match between India and England at Headingley. While India lost the Test match, Pant, with his unorthodox method, showed his mettle again with the bat. The first Test gave ample display of his worth to the team even without gloves.
“When you look at all of Rishabh Pant’s achievements, the first instinct is to think of him purely as a batter, and understandably so. Because when you’re talking about batting exploits in England, scoring twin hundreds, the names he’s being compared with are legends like Dilip Vengsarkar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sunil Gavaskar,” Sanjay Manjrekar said, speaking on Jiostar.
Manjrekar then drew comparisons between Pant and Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batter Kumara Sangakkara. Sangakkara has not kept wickets as regularly as Pant. “But here’s the remarkable part — he’s also a wicketkeeper. That’s what makes it almost unbelievable. I know someone like Kumar Sangakkara had a phenomenal batting record, but he wasn’t quite the keeper that Rishabh Pant is,” Manjrekar said.
“Pant is India’s first and last choice as a wicketkeeper in this Test side — and that says a lot. Now, if you look at the numbers — most hundreds by Indians in Tests in England — Rahul Dravid leads with six. And suddenly, you have Pant’s name in that same elite bracket. And there’s a nice little twist — there are two Rahul’s in this story,” Manjrekar observed.
Manjrekar also added that Pant might even surpass Rahul Dravid by the end of the England tour. “You’ve got KL Rahul, and you’ve got Rishabh Pant. Who knows, by the time this series is done, Pant could match or even surpass Rahul Dravid. There are still four Tests to go in this series — that’s potentially eight innings for Pant. And he’s already started in near-perfect fashion.”
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