Rishabh Pant has a reputation of being needlessly reckless most of the time. But Ravi Shastri has a different opinion.
The former India head coach believes Pant knows what he is doing and is very calculative in his approach.
“Outrageous. He (Pant) plays the numbers game beautifully, plays the way he wants. He will block for a bit and then shift gears,” Shastri said on Sky Sports.
“He has his own computer and only he knows how it works. That’s his USP. That’s what puts bowlers under pressure and makes him box office, a real entertainer and a match winner,” Shastri said.
Pant made 134 off 178 balls and hit 12 fours and six sixes in India’s first innings. Pant, who had a career-threatening accident in 2022, celebrated his ton with a somersault. Shastri tried to explain why the keeper-batter celebrated in that manner. “Thanking the man upstairs for giving him the opportunity... That’s why there was that celebration.
“I think his recovery from that accident had a lot to do with the frame of his body and being mid-20s. When I saw him in hospital, it wasn’t a pretty sight. Knee in a mess, scars all over the place, bruises all over the place,” Shastri recounted.
Even Sunil Gavaskar, who has been critical of Pant’s careless batting in the past, exclaimed “superb, superb, superb” in admiration of the left-handed batter’s innings on Sunday.