Watch: Rishabh Pant, playing for Leicestershire in their practice game against the touring India side in Leicester, cracked an 87-ball 76 from No.5, reaching his fifty with a six off teammate Umesh Yadav.

Pant turned out for Leicestershire after a pre-match team shuffle-up saw four India players (Cheteshwar Pujara, Prasidh Krishna, and Jasprit Bumrah the others) being drafted into the home team’s XI. Led by Rohit Sharma, the India team declared their first innings at 246-8; in response, Leicestershire had slipped to 44-3 when Pant came in. The fall of wickets continued, but Pant found company in Rishi Patel and Roman Walker, taking on the bowlers with a quickfire fifty.

The landmark was achieved with a typically brazen stroke on the leg-side in the 40th over: off the first ball by Umesh Yadav, he unleashed a whip off the pads, the ball seemingly catching a top edge that flew over the fine-leg fence for a six. The hit was his only six of the innings but included 14 fours, all coming at a strike-rate of 87.36.

The knock carried Leicestershire to 244, handing India a slender two-run lead. By stumps on day two, though, a strong start by openers Srikar Bharat and Shubman Gill, and No.3 Hanuma Vihari meant that the lead had gone past 80.

Watch the Pant six in the practice game here:

 

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