India are alive in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy thanks largely to Rishabh Pant's counter-attacking half-century – in his unique fashion. Aadya Sharma marvels at his method, and writes that India need him to be himself.
For several decades now, roller-coasters have been broadly classified into two types, steel or wood. A third one, a mix of both, is termed a hybrid roller-coaster. An official fourth one is what cricket commentators use to describe Rishabh Pant’s Test batting.
The r-word was repeatedly thrown at the mic in Sydney on Saturday, when Pant teased and thrilled, blurring the lines between spunky and (quoting Sunil Gavaskar) stupid.
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What’s actually stupid is our constant questioning of Pant’s approach. He’s been around for six years now – and it’s almost always this method that has worked wonders for him.
It definitely did in Sydney. The pitch was wearier, the ball was jagging around as if on a string, and India’s lead was as slender as slender can be. Yashasvi Jaiswal began with four boundaries off one Mitchell Starc over, but was wafting at thin air not long after, as the Australians found the right lengths to tease.
Pant walked in to replace Virat Kohli, who had been dismissed (no guesses how) to Scott Boland for the fifth time this series. The first ball was a shockingly honest forewarning of the route he’d take: prancing down and ploughing the day’s best bowler over long-on for a six.
The next ball, he was beaten. The ball after, he attempted a reverse lap that would have made Gavaskar shriek. It was going to be that sort of an evening – every punch mattered.
