Mohali: Indian cricket’s rapidly-rising box-office draw Rishabh Pant (96, 97b, 9×4, 4×6) owned the centre-stage in Virat Kohli’s landmark 100th Test. Rishabh Pant hammered Sri Lankan bowlers into submission with an enthralling innings as the hosts reached a commanding 357 for six wickets on the opening day of the first Test here Friday.
The 5,000-odd spectators had come to watch Kohli (45, 82b, 5×4) perform on a grand stage. Instead they saw one of the most flamboyant batters in recent history make a mockery of an average Sri Lankan attack. Rishabh Pant was especially brutal when it came to going after left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya (2/107). The bowler went for 22 runs in one over.
The deathly silence after Kohli’s shock exit was there for barely a second-and-half. Because at that point entered the stockily built 24-year-old from India’s engineering city of Rourkee. His entry was followed by a deafening roar which showed his popularity. On Kohli’s day, Pant had completely over-shadowed the legend.
And those who came for Kohli, decided to stay back and savour Pant’s mayhem. He he started with a signature lofted six off Embuldeniya over mid-wicket fence.
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Embuldeniya, who must have felt emboldened when he got one to turn a shade away and tickle Kohli’s off-stump, didn’t know what hit him. In just over one and half session, Pant nearly reached his fourth hundred in Test cricket before veteran Suranga Lakmal (1/63), in his last international series, breached his defence. This was the fifth time Pant had got out in the 90s.
Coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma’s decision to send him at No. 5 to bring in the left-hander’s advantage against a left-arm spinner, paid the rich dividends they were hoping for.
Pant being a southpaw obviously diminished Embuldeniya’s advantage to an extent. Pant’s decision to stand at least a couple of yards outside the crease made the difference. He turned a lot of good length deliveries into over-pitched ones and Embuldeniya, along with other spinners like Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva (1/47), also suffered.
It also helped that Dimuth Karunaratne’s mindset was defensive from the word go since Rohit Sharma (29) and Mayank Agarwal (33) had a brisk 50-run stand.
Once a fielding side skipper stations a deep point, deep square-leg and deep fine-leg within the first hour of the first day, one can get a sense that he has already thrown the towel and playing a waiting game of cutting down boundaries.
Even then, Pant found the gaps with very little difficulty when he took guard in the 44th over after Kohli and Hanuma Vihari (58, 128b, 5×4) had a 90-run stand.
Vihari made good use of his chance in place of veteran Cheteshwar Pujara. He looked in control during his stand with Kohli before he inside edged Vishwa Fernando’s delivery onto the stumps.
A total of 170 for 3 is a neither here nor there and a lot of batters will be caught in two minds – whether to defend or to attack.
But not Pant. With him, there are no half measures and if any critic had an iota of difficulty in understanding why Dravid had a hard conversation with Wriddhiman Saha regarding his future, Friday’s matinee show should help in dispelling all doubts.
The Indian team need players, who can move the game in tricky situations. Among the post Kohli-Rohit generation, Pant is an assured match-winner, who can open the game in a session.
Scoring 350 plus runs in a day’s play is always bad news for the bowling team and as of now, it seems India will walk away with 12 World Test Championship points without breaking a lot of sweat.
India 357 for 6 (Rishabh Pant 96, Hanuma Vihari 58, Virat Kohli 45, Mayank Agarwal 33, Rohit Sharma 29, Shreyas Iyer 27, Ravindra Jadeja 45 batting, Ravichandran Ashwin 10 batting) vs Sri Lanka. Match to continue.
