Rishabh Pant: On the night javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won another gold medal, Shubman Gill’s young team succumbed to a series of dropped catches and complacency in the first Test at Headingley, Leeds, on June 24 — a day before India’s 42nd anniversary of the completely unexpected World Cup triumph in 1983.
At exactly the same time Olympic champion Chopra was winning gold at the 64th Ostrava Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czech Republic, about 1,900 km away, England was racing confidently towards their 371-run target. England’s five-wicket win, which gave Ben Stokes’s team a crucial 1-0 lead in the five-Test series, meant that Rishabh Pant’s gloriously entertaining centuries in each innings went in vain.
Besides Rishabh’s 134 and 118, containing many daring shots, the other commendable efforts of Gill (147), Yashasvi Jaiswal (101), KL Rahul (137), and Jasprit Bumrah (5/83) also went down the drain. India, thus, became the first team in the 148-year history of Test cricket to lose a match despite hitting five centuries — an embarrassing record that no one would want to have.
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Six dropped catches in the match and the late-order collapses in both innings proved decisive. But coach Gautam Gambhir strangely defended the lower-order batsmen, saying, “These things happen.” In the first innings, from 430 for three wickets, thanks to centuries from Jaiswal, Gill, and Rishabh, India dramatically lost their last seven wickets for a mere 41 runs. In the second innings, the visitors, having taken a six-run lead, were in a good position at 333 for six. But they lost their last six wickets for 31, which meant England were given an under-par target, knowing their aggressive approach in chases in the recent past.
Diminutive left-handed opener BenDuckett led England’s charge with a brilliant 149, and his 188-run partnership with co-opener Zak Crawley (65) laid the foundation of the win, achieved in the last hour of the match, with Joe Root (53 not out) making a significant contribution.
Rishabh, the biggest positive
Despite the loss, Rishabh’s centuries were the single biggest positive to emerge for India at Headingley – and that augurs well for the team without retired Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and R Ashwin, and an injured Mohammed Shami. The left-hander’s centuries not only showed that he has left his IPL form behind, but they also underlined that the responsibility of vice-captaincy sits lightly on his shoulders. Only in the last and insignificant IPL league game did he redeem himself with a century for the Lucknow Super Giants.
Rishabh, however, looked a completely transformed batsman at Headingley, playing his trademark falling pull and other audacious shots to bring up his first innings’ 134 (178 balls, 251 minutes, 12x4s, 6x6s) – his seventh Test ton that made him the most prolific century-making wicketkeeper for India, erasing MS Dhoni’s six. He celebrated it with a cartwheel, something he had learnt at school.
The 27-year-old batsman then cracked his eighth (118, 140 balls, 208 minutes, 15x4s, 3x6s) in the second to become the first Indian wicketkeeper — and only the second overall behind Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower — to hammer two hundreds in Test history.
At the end of the first Test, Rishabh had scored 3,200 runs at 44.44 in 44 matches, with eight centuries – and seven nineties – besides 15 half-tons in the toughest format of the game.
All-round praise
Rishabh’s performance drew kudos from one and all. More importantly, everyone – from cricket pundits to Indian coaches – backed his style of batsmanship and gave him a free hand.
“Rishabh is someone who makes his own plans. He decides – and he bats. This innings was a little different than you would see him normally, but honestly, that is all his plans. The way he wanted to approach it and when he wanted to attack, he did… Because he plays aggressive [cricket] does not mean he cannot play defensive,” India’s assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak said of Rishabh’s first innings knock.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain said, “Rishabh Pant is absolutely box office. Everyone loves watching this lad play.”
That the selectors acknowledged Rishabh’s leadership qualities and appointed him India vice-captain, ahead of experienced KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah, says a lot about his cricketing acumen and abilities. Rishabh’s batting is moulded on the lines of Virender Sehwag’s – see ball, hit ball. But even Sehwag did not improvise and innovate as much as Rishabh. Both believed in going after the opposing bowlers from the word go, though, to bring them into submission. And everyone supported their style of batting — from Sourav Ganguly to Gambhir.
The other performers
Jaiswal, Rahul, Bumrah, and Gill were the other top performers, though England pacers Josh Tongue, Stokes, and Brydon Carse’s contributions with the ball eventually helped their team win. Openers Jaiswal and Rahul laid a solid foundation with their 91-run stand in the first innings before centurions Gill and Rishabh took over.
Bumrah was the best with the ball in England’s first innings as he bagged a five-wicket haul, though he crucially went wicketless in the second. Pacer Prasidh Krishna bagged three and two wickets in the two innings. Overall, the Indian bowling department disappointed with their lack of incisiveness and penetration on a pitch that eased out for batting as England successfully chased 370.
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Cause for deep concern
Gambhir defended the collapses in the two innings at the end-of-the-Test press conference. But whatever he thinks, the importance of contributions from lower-order batsmen cannot be ignored. He, too, might underline this point within the confines of the dressing room, though.
“Look, first of all, it’s not that they weren’t applying themselves. Sometimes people fail. And that’s okay,” Gambhir said. “Even proper batters fail. Hopefully, they’ll learn, and hopefully, we’ll get better performances from our tail. And that is not the only reason we lost the Test match.”
Six dropped catches were another reason for India’s defeat as they cost 202 runs. Had Jaiswal, who spilled three catches in the match, not dropped a difficult chance off Mohammed Siraj when Duckett was at 97, the story might have been different. “Yes, that was something that we spoke about,” Gill said about catching. “I think it would be one of those things that we have to rectify in the upcoming matches. Chances don’t come easy, especially on wickets like these, and we dropped quite a few catches.”
We shall wait and see that in the second match that starts on July 2 at Edgbaston, Birmingham, where India have never won a Test while England have won seven of the eight.
