Rishabh Pant: Once in a generation cricketer

Sitting in a restaurant in Manchester, Sourav Ganguly once said, “He will be your biggest match-winner in the next 10 years. Remember me. He has been blessed with the kind of talent I haven’t seen in a long time.” Yes, he needs time but he is a once in a generation player.

Ganguly was talking about Rishabh Pant. It was the evening after India’s defeat in the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand in Manchester. The defeat was yet to come. India had failed to chase down 240 and the dream of winning the trophy was over. The man with the most fire was Pant who threw his wicket away. He was called overrated, overweight, careless and more. His attitude towards batting was criticized.

It was hard to believe Ganguly’s words but he always loved Pant and in the circumstances it seemed like a huge overstatement.

After exactly three years, Ganguly’s point of view will have to be obeyed. Hundreds of the two series-defining innings in Australia, South Africa (1), England (2) and Australia (1) and the pace at which he bats, Pant is rapidly elevating himself to the status of a modern great.

With Pant, it is all or nothing. With that attitude, there is no doubt that he will fail in a few days. But the day he succeeds – his success rate in Test cricket exceeds his failures – he takes the game away from the opposition. Scoring five run-a-overs against English attackers like James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Matthew Potts at Edgbaston was astonishing, to say the least. That innings changed the match and ensured that India’s hopes in the World Test Championship (WTC) were alive.

Pant, as many believe, is a thinking cricketer. He’s not all slam bang. There is always a way to his madness. For example, after his Gabba exploits, he explained how he knew Nathan Lyon would try to take a rough turn on middle and off-stump and this prompted him to dance to the track and pick up Lyon . Pant was playing Lyon inside and outside the pitch. He was winning the mind game and helping India win the match. It was the same against Jack Leach at Edgbaston. It was no rocket science that Pant would attack Leach. But the way he did it defined the first afternoon of the decider. He defeated Leach in his mind and managed to take the game away from England.

Pant has fixed the match for India with the help of 146 in his counter attack. He bats at a pace that gives his bowlers plenty of time to work hard against the opposition. Also, when we celebrate Pant, it would be unfair not to mention Jadeja. Perhaps the best Test batsman in the last few years, Jadeja looked disheartened even when India were five for 98 and then when Pant got out.

India head coach Rahul Dravid is not the most expressive man, but Pant’s 100-run celebration was a testament to the importance of the innings. Pant was under pressure not to score consistently and his place in the white-ball set-up was being questioned. Dravid has defended him time and again and it was important for Pant to justify the support. That’s what he did at Edgbaston and did it in style. It will go down as one of the most impressive Day 1 innings ever played by an Indian on England soil and could go on to lead India to a historic away series win. That’s what Pant is all about, a real match winner and a rare talent.

Originally published at Pen 18