The joy of watching Rishabh Pant bat in typical Rishabh Pant style will never grow old, writes Sarah Waris.
Two moments stood out from Rishabh Pant’s batting yesterday.
The first came immediately after Ben Stokes had bowled an absolute peach to dismiss Yashasvi Jaiswal. Angling away off the pitch, the ball beat the bat’s outside edge and clattered into the off-stump. Jaiswal had tried to drive down the ground, but the ball deviated just enough. Stokes let out a roar, as England had something to celebrate after a frustrating, wicketless session.
The joy was short-lived.
In walked Pant. His first ball was a quiet forward defence. Calm, even humble. But that was just the bait. The very next delivery, he skipped down the track and whacked Stokes straight back over his head for four. Bold and cheeky. Stokes didn’t glare or curse. He just laughed, a big, hearty laugh. What else was there to do?
The second moment came much later in the day, but was no less telling. It was the final over, bowled by Chris Woakes. England had a deep square-leg in place, but Pant came down the track to a good-length delivery on the stumps and, in typical fashion, swung cleanly across the line. The ball sailed into the stands, over that very fielder. Stokes could only smile again, Woakes too, baffled and quietly amused. It was quintessential Pant, a shot that even led KL Rahul, in the dressing room, to bow down, hands folded, before him. God-like batting. Or at least, God of Mischief-like batting.
That little exchange: Stokes beaming in disbelief, Pant grinning like a schoolboy caught red-handed stealing sweets, was a snapshot of what makes watching him such a joy. There is theatre in his batting, yes, but also sincerity. He doesn’t just play cricket. He lives it. Loudly. Unapologetically.
And yet, over the past 15 months, we haven’t seen this side of him often enough.
On Saturday, as he reached his seventh Test hundred with, what else, a one-handed swing through the line that fetched six, his delighted somersault ironically symbolised his journey in the last few months. It’s been uneven. Spiralling. At times chaotic. But finally, ending upright.
His horrific car crash brought fear. His comeback brought hope. But on the field, things didn’t fall into place easily. In Tests, he averaged 36 last year, the lowest he’s managed in a calendar year since 2020. He lost his T20I spot after a quiet World Cup. And his 104-ball 30 at a strike rate of 28.84 at the MCG late last year was unlike himself. A strike rate of 28.84, especially from someone whose batting had once outpaced Bazball itself, was disorienting.
Just an innings earlier, he had been under scrutiny for a “stupid, stupid, stupid” shot. Reports suggested that head coach Gautam Gambhir had given him a dressing-down in the changing room for his irresponsible batting. At 159 for 5, chasing Australia’s 474, it hadn’t looked pretty. Pant changed his approach for the next innings, looked uncomfortable, and you could sense he wasn't himself.
Then came the IPL. And Pant looked adrift. He had been the second-most expensive buy at the auction as he moved to Lucknow Super Giants, but the runs dried up. He made just 151 in his first 12 innings, and even when he ended the tournament with an unbeaten hundred, the frown lines stayed.
So, yes, there was something to prove heading into the England series.
When Pant was asked about being one of the senior-most in the team following the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, he chuckled. But he knew. As India’s vice-captain now, he had a role to play. He was under pressure, too. Dhruv Jurel had shown poise against pace in overseas A tours, and Pant needed to not just perform, but lead. And somehow, in the weight of it all, he found himself again at Leeds.
After that early boundary off Stokes, Pant slowed down. He made only 12 runs in his first 34 deliveries. Against Shoaib Bashir, on paper a favourable matchup, he didn’t hit a boundary for 29 balls. Then he shifted gears. Three fours and a six in ten balls followed. “It’s his strategy,” said Cheteshwar Pujara on Sony Sports. “He defends so the bowlers stick to a length. Then he attacks.”
Even his most outlandish shots carry intent. Sachin Tendulkar explained Pant’s paddle sweeps by noting how he deliberately falls during the shot, as it lets him scoop the ball over the leg slip with control. It’s calculated and well thought out.
He is just as capable in defence. Against Stokes’ slower deliveries, he adjusted his bat swing well. He stood tall against the wobble seamers and the late inswingers. His early foot movement often forced bowlers to reconsider their length altogether.
On the first morning of day two, he left a short-of-a-length ball from Brydon Carse. The next over, a similar delivery came, and he shuffled across, inside the line, and helped it past the keeper for four. It’s that unpredictability that makes him so difficult to plan for. There’s a mind at work. It’s not just 'see ball, hit ball'.
When Carse bowled him a bouncer, he ducked. At the other end, Shubman Gill teased, “Maar na [Hit it].” Pant replied, “Respect karna pad gaya, tagda ball tha [I need to respect it, it was a good ball].” There’s an awareness there. He respects the ball that deserves respect.
But then, there are moments when he simply is Rishabh Pant. He had been cautious against spin on day one, but on Saturday, he took on Bashir with a four and then a six, the latter bringing him into the 90s. Each ball after was an event. A hurried duck to a short one, a compact response to a yorker, and a smile as he jogged a single past Stokes, who was once again the bowler.
Even on 99, you weren’t sure what he’d do. He could try something absurd. He could get out. Or he could bring up his hundred in the only way he knows: with a shot that drew gasps. And that's exactly what he proceeded to do, as he got his seventh Test ton, equal to his tally of seven nineties.
Only four wicketkeepers have more Test hundreds. Only two have more runs and average more. At 27, with five of those hundreds coming outside Asia, and a strike rate of 73.69, Pant is building a resume that demands notice as one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batters in the format.
This wasn’t a comeback game for Pant, but it was a quiet reclamation of his best self: measured, playful, vulnerable, brave. The one we so dearly missed.
In an era where cricket so often leans on numbers, his innings was a quiet realisation of something simpler: the childlike thrill of watching someone do what you wouldn’t dare to try. That even at its most serious, cricket should still be fun. And most of all, it reminded us that we need a smiling Pant around, because when he is, we’re all smiling with him.
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