Pant plays the numbers game beautifully, has his own computer: Ravi Shastri

Rishabh Pant “plays the numbers game beautifully and has his own computer” whose working only he knows, feels former India head coach Ravi Shastri after the swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter’s audacious and entertaining show against England in the opening Test here.

Pant hit an audacious 134 off just 178 balls with the help of 12 fours and six sixes to entertain the Headingley crowd with his unorthodox batting on Day 2. The ‘falling paddle’, the post-century somersault, there was majesty and madness in equal measure in Pant’s memorable knock.

“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,” said the former India all-rounder about Pant’s ‘method to madness’.

The 27-year-old Pant’s knock — his seventh Test century and second since a horrific car crash in late 2022 that could have cost him his life — was a joy to watch, and Shastri tried to explain his somersault after the hundred.

“That’s why there was that celebration. Thanking the man upstairs for giving him the opportunity,” said Shastri.

“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.”

Most batters would not have dared to play a big shot when on 99 but Pant is made of different stuff as he carted off-spinner Shoaib Bashir for a one-handed six over mid-wicket to bring up his ton.

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“This fella is box office. One of the great entertainers and one of the best hundred celebrations I have seen. He’s a character, this boy,” said former Surrey and Sussex batter Ian Ward while commentating for Sky Sports.

Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar had uttered the words “stupid, stupid, stupid” while on commentary when Pant fell to a failed scoop during the series defeat in Australia. But on Saturday, he could not help but saying “superb, superb, superb” after the memorable knock in Leeds.