India’s Risabh Pant smashed an outstanding 96 in the first innings of the ongoing series opener against Sri Lanka at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
Batting aggressively, the wicketkeeper played a crucial knock of 96 runs off 97 deliveries, missing his Test ton by just 4 runs.
Pant hit a half-century in 73 balls and switched to assault mode then onwards, hitting back-to-back fours off Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva.
With India four down on 175, Pant and Shreyas Iyer kept the scoreboard moving to help the team reach 199/4. Iyer fell to Dhananjaya de Silva and Pant then stitched a 100-run stand for the 6th wicket with Ravindra Jadeja. The left-hander blasted 4 sixes and 9 glorious boundaries before being bowled for 96 by Sri Lanka fast bowler Suranga Lakmal.
On the first day of the first Test, India won the toss and chose to bat first. However, the team failed to fire in the beginning of the first innings as Rohit Sharma departed for 29 and Mayank Agarwal perished for 33. Hanuma Vihari struck a solid 50 for the team whereas Kohli too departed soon for 45 in his 100th Test.
Pant’s almost a run-a-ball innings and gutsy batting took India past 300, but the wicketkeeper was heartbroken after getting bowled for 96.
Nevertheless, the left-hander won millions of hearts on Twitter for his outstanding innings and the star batter received plenty of accolades for stealing the show today.
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper was praised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for his brilliant knock of 96.
Former cricketer Irfan Pathan called Pant “one hell of an exciting” cricketer for his aggressive batting.
Rishabh Pant is one hell of an exciting cricketer!
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 4, 2022
Former Captain of the England cricket team, Michael Vaughan tweeted that he loved watching Rishabh Pant and called him the greatest modern day player.
Absolutely love watching @RishabhPant17 !! A player who you can’t love .. don’t want to miss a ball he faces .. no idea what’s going on his head .. but it’s always a must watch .. I reckon he is the greatest modern day player entertainer ., #INDvSL
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 4, 2022
Cricket analyst Akash Chopra was the next to praise the left-hander for his stellar knocks.
Cricket’s obsession with milestones doesn’t allow us to properly acknowledge and appreciate the achievements. This is Rishabh’s 5th score in 90s…all of them stellar knocks enriching Test cricket. #IndvSL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 4, 2022
Rishabh Pant was lauded by fans for an entertaining and thrilling match and for keeping everyone on the edge with his quickfire knocks.
Take a look at some more tweets here:
But it was entertaining and thrilling to watch while it lasted! What an innings by Rishabh Pant. So audacious! #INDvSL
— Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB) March 4, 2022
Rishabh Pant will do to Test cricket what Adam Gilchrist did for us who grew up in 90s and 00s. Someone who plays the game freely and brings more people to the game, breathes fresh air into the game of cricket!
— Nikhil ???? (@CricCrazyNIKS) March 4, 2022
Just one of those regular reminders to myself, every time I see India play a Test match these days: I’ll pay good money to watch Rishabh Pant on the field.
— KSR (@KShriniwasRao) March 4, 2022
Meanwhile, India posted a good 357/6 after 85 overs on the 1st Day of the first Test of the the two-match series.
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