Adil Rashid, much like a lot present at Trent Bridge was left stunned when his leg-break was completely dispatched straight down the ground for a maximum by a Test debutant, facing only his second ball. Rishabh Pant’s stunning shot to kick-start his Test career surprised many, one of which was his mother Saroj. Speaking to The Kashmir Times, Pant’s mother revealed that she was surprised as her son scored his first runs in Test cricket by hitting an outrageous six.
I was very nervous when I heard that he would be making his Test debut. I was very much surprised. Before going into play the Test, he telephoned me and asked me to watch him play on TV. I generally don’t watch matches on TV when he is playing. However, after his father’s recent death, he has been requesting me to watch him play,” she said. The 20-year-old had a Test debut to remember after he was drafted into the playing XI following Dinesh Karthik’s poor form. Not only did his brief innings of 24 from 51 balls helped India end their first innings with 329 runs on the board, his wicket-keeping skills made its presence felt as he affected five dismissals behind the stumps-becoming only the fourth Indian stumper to do so on Test debut, after the likes of Naren Tamhane, Kiran More and Naman Ojha.
Pant’s coach Tarak Sinha however wasn’t surprised by his ward’s unique way to open his account in Test cricket. Pant became the first Indian to achieve this feat of scoring his first runs with a six. Sinha, who has coached many former Indian cricketers, said, “Rishabh is a steel [sic] man and among all my other promising pupils, has the ability to hit hard. He is mentally very strong and is not only the player with the white ball. He has proved that he can play the red cherry with confidence and against all odds”. Pant, who is the 291st player to represent India in the whites has already played four T20Is. He averages more than 54 in the 23 First Class games he has played, with the best score of 308.
Earlier this year, Pant impressed many with his batting prowess in the Indian Premier League where he amassed 684 runs from 14 matches and ended up as the second highest run-getter in the competition.