Picture Credit: X/@StarSports
On Saturday, June 21, Rishabh Pant, the Indian wicketkeeper batter, completed his seventh Test hundred in the first Test of the five-match series against England at Headingley in Leeds. In the morning session on day two, the left-handed batter reached the three-figure score in 146 balls after hitting Shoaib Bashir for a six over cow corner region before he enjoyed the moment by bringing out his new somersault celebration.
The arrival of Rishabh Pant at the crease happened after the fall of centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal’s wicket at the start of third session on day one, and then, he started his innings with four on the second ball of his innings. The 27-year-old had charged England captain Ben Stokes to loft him over his head for a boundary, which made the bowler stare at him before having a chuckle.
As the innings of Rishabh Pant progressed, he also brought his defensive batting skills to the floor apart from an occasional attacking stroke, to reach his fifty in 91 balls. The stroke to reach the fifty was reminiscent of his unorthodox style, going down on one knee to sweep fast bowler Chris Woakes, who was charging in with the second new dukes ball, but he could only bottom edge it towards the mid-wicket region for a couple of runs.
After going past his fifty, Rishabh Pant opened up his shoulders more regularly towards the end of the third session on day one before mixing caution with aggression on the first session of day two, to get past his hundred. He and Shubman Gill, who had gone past his hundred last evening, have shared a partnership in excess of 200 runs for the fourth wicket and going strong.
Below are the playing XIs of England and India for the first Test at Headingley in Leeds:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
