India’s Rishabh Pant turned the tide of the Test series in Australia with his remarkable batting – and now he’s reprised his fearless striking with a match-changing century against England in the fourth Test.
After Ben Stokes put in a Herculean shift in the heat of Ahmedabad, Pant’s three-figure assault and the folly of England’s imbalanced attack on Friday left India in full control after Day 2.
There were shades of Pant’s brilliant innings in Sydney and Brisbane as the diminutive wicketkeeper-batsman built to a brilliant 101, changing the complexion of the game as he struck 13 boundaries and two sixes to help put India 89 ahead at stumps on 7-294.
Pant has been devastating with the bat since he made a counter-attacking 97 to secure a draw at the SCG and then blasted a match-winning 89 not out in the final Test win at the Gabba.
Against England, he’s carried on his aggressive brilliance, scoring 91 in the opening Test in Chennai and a vital unbeaten 58 that helped India level the series in the second Test. Yet this was his most devastating contribution yet.
“It got us to where we wanted, put us in the driver’s seat,” said India opener Rohit Sharma of his teammate’s partnership of 113 with the excellent Washington Sundar, who was still there at the close on 60.
At tea, though, it had looked as though the unrelenting Stokes might have made the defining contribution, defying illness, stiffness and a muddled team selection to drag India back to 5-144 in response to his side’s modest 205 all out.
(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Flogging himself for 20 overs in near 40-degree heat, he bounced out home captain Virat Kohli for a duck and removed in-form opener Sharma with a booming in-swinger, holding down the fort for long, exhausting spells.
But England had gambled on just three specialist bowlers, including one – Dom Bess – who turned up visibly shorn of confidence and unable to exert any control.
It was a costly decision, with Pant seizing the opportunity to cash in against an attack spreading itself painfully thin.
After taking the time to set himself carefully on the surface, he got his side to parity and then cut loose in the evening with an array of increasingly jaw-dropping shots.
It may well go down as a match-winning innings, with his late assault on James Anderson – featuring a charge down the ground to his first delivery with the new ball and an impudent reverse paddle – destined to linger long in the memory as India took 141 from a chastening final session.
(Photo by Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images)
Things had been so different at the start of play, Anderson and Stokes locking down the scoreboard as England allowed just 16 runs in the first hour.
Jack Leach applied the finishing touch to their work, going wicket-to-wicket at Cheteshwar Pujara, who played behind his front pad and fell LBW for 17.
Stokes got ride of Kohli, hammering a short ball into the surface, which reared up and grazed the edge of an awkward defensive fend.
Anderson outclassed Ajinkya Rahane in the last over of the morning to leave the score 4-80 but England struggled after the break as Bess served up too many full tosses and drag downs.
Stokes ended Rohit’s handy innings of 49 and Leach had Ravichandran Ashwin caught at short mid-wicket. But England lost their way entirely in the final session, unable to shut down Pant.
I mean the Paine bashing at this stage is getting pretty boring. Sure it wasnt a good series for him tactically. but people love to omit the fact that Starc just went AWOL in the third and fourth tests and Lyon struggling for impact.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Ahh but there's no reason we can't ...
Ravi
Roar Rookie
I’m not a fan of Stokes, mainly for his adversarial bent, but that may be driving his gutsy bowling performance. I’m being won over by his whole-hearted and courageous effort with the ball. He seemed out on his feet and continued to gave everything he had. Joe Root’s stocks have gone the other way though. – And some management staff, need to be sacked for the treatment of Moeen over an extended period, as reported by George Dobell;
Not really talking about Paine are we though.....
Ravi Keelveedhi
Roar Rookie
This time around in Down Under he's shown tremendous improvement in his batting skills, including a match winning 89 at GABBA. So let's hope he keeps the present momentum. As far as his keeping, he' s shown tremendous reflexes behind the stumps for spinners. It's not easy to stand upto spinners in subcontinent pitches where the ball turns viciously. His keeping for pace bowlers it's above par. Of course he has to keep in England this summer, where he did well last time.
Suria
Guest
Problem is MSD almost never trained or even did drills as a keeper, he would just don the gloves when it was match time, he was a pure natural, not sure he would know how to coach another keeper
Chris Love
Roar Guru
I think AB Devilliers may have something to say about the “sole” legitimate air remark.
Chipwich
Guest
you're comparing two people in different stages of their career. yes, Pant had a shocker in NZ. He was wrongly fast tracked into the team before he knew his own game Rizwan hasn't excelled on every tour either. singling people out based on one tour is lazy. By that logic I can say Ponting is a hopeless batsman because of his 2001 tour of India.
chief2255
Guest
That was one tour. Pant also has a hundred in england. He can olay swing. He was completely out of sort in nz and even while playing in India for a while and thats why he was dropped. Rizwan is good,but i dont see him being better than pant longterm. Time will tell
Peter Anderson
Guest
England, three specialist bowlers? I've been saying to my mates for a while that England are just too clever by half with their selection policies. Genuine all-rounders are fine. But they probably only have 1. And even Stokes, as good a bowler as he is, is really a specialist batsmen who is a VERY handy bowler - would he be picked for his bowling alone? The England policy of picking bits and pieces players is short sighted. The 1'000s of test matches played provide ample proof that 6 specialist batsmen, a keeper and four specialist bowlers win way more tests than any other combination. Very rarely a true all-rounder comes along. The teams that have the option to pick one of these is exceedingly lucky. Eg, Aust last true all-rounder is Keith Miller - would be picked as either batsmen or bowler.
Mr Booze
Guest
no whinging about the pitch today?
JGK
Roar Guru
Meanwhile. England crumbling. At least they've pushed this one into a third day. Massive swing on that Pant LBW early in his innings.
JGK
Roar Guru
Depends how you look at not outs!
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Won't do his Test average any harm tho..
JGK
Roar Guru
Poor Sundar...
Targa
Roar Rookie
Rizwan's averages: Test: 44.35 1st class: 43.87 ODI: 30.41 List A: 48.47 T20is: 31.87 T20s: 34.56 He genuinely very good. This summer Rizwan batted really well in NZ and showed he could play the moving ball, while last summer Pant really struggled.
I dont agree he is as good a batsman. He's not bad tho and Pant could be in the team as a batsman only...Pant anit a bad keeper and I well remember Healy being critisized so maybe give him time to develop the skills...Concentration seems his issues at the moment...But he's 23
Chipwich
Guest
Rizwan is 28.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Paine 's just as bad on the tactics front.
Paul
Roar Guru
It will be interesting to see how he goes over the next 12 months as far as his keeping's concerned. I get the impression he's a confidence player so when his batting's "on", his keeping is better. He had a tough time with the bat in New Zealand and his keeping was poor, which led to his being dropped. English conditions will test him big time. Hopefully he does mature as you suggest. I think your call on Dhoni as a mentor is a very good one. MS really needs to coach Pant in how to keep, as well as being there for support.