Credit: ICC
On the second day of the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Headingley in Leeds, Rishabh Pant continued his onslaught against England bowlers and racked up his seventh red-ball ton. With this innings, he became the wicketkeeper batter with most tons for Team India in the longest format of the sport. The first day of the contest saw Pant exude confidence with his bat by clobbering his fifty.
He continued his excellent batting show on the second day and went on to hammer English bowlers. In the 100th over of the first innings of India, he smashed Shoaib Bashir for a six and completed his hundred in 146 balls before celebrating it in style with a Sommersault.
With the 27-year-old’s hundred, India got three centuries in the innings as skipper Shubman Gill and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal also scored tons earlier. The three centuries have reminded Team India fans of their side’s 2002 victory at the same venue. Riding on the scintillating hundreds from Rahul Dravid (148), Sachin Tendulkar (193), and Sourav Ganguly (128), India claimed a comprehensive win of an innings and 46 runs against Nasser Hussain’s England. This was Pant’s third hundred on England’s soil, while talking about his overall tons against the English side, it was his fourth one. Of Pant’s seven Test centuries, five are in overseas conditions.
England fought back in the Test with bat at Headingley vs India
England contained India from posting a colossal total on the board. Noting Gill and Pant’s partnership, one could assess that India would cross the 500-run mark. However, England pacers Josh Tongue and Ben Stokes performed magnificently to bundle out the visitors on 471.
Tongue went on to pick up four wickets, while Stokes also hunted four batters of India. Earlier, Shoaib Bashir took Shubman Gill’s wicket and started India’s batting collapse. As of this writing, England are on 187/2 with Ollie Pope (unbeaten 90) and Joe Root (unbeaten 24) at the crease, looking to hunt down India's big total on the board.
