CHENNAI: Stats don’t necessarily reveal the entire story, but they do leave an indicator. So, when Rishabh Pant matches MS Dhoni‘s six-Test-centuries feat — achieved over 90 Tests — in just 34 games, it’s a very special achievement indeed. The Pant story is all the more special because of the cruel turn that life had taken on a wintry morning in 2022.Lucky to be alive after a car accident, not too many gave him a chance to play top-flight cricket again, let alone play Tests.
Pant’s comeback story is well documented. His return in the last IPL was a tale of determination while his role as a No. 3 batter on the most difficult pitches of the T20 World Cup spoke volumes of his grit. There were still doubts whether his body would be able to take the rigours of five-day cricket, but after Saturday, all those speculations have been put to rest. The comfort with which he batted against the Bangladesh bowlers showed that the cobwebs in the mind have been taken care of.Shubman Gill, who has seen him from close quarters and shared a 167-run partnership on Saturday, said that it was special to see Pant score the comeback ton. “I’ve spent a lot of time with him on and off the field and watching him score his first 100 after his comeback gives me so much pleasure. I’ve seen him work so hard for it when he was coming back from the injury and I think he also must be feeling really good,” Gill said.
A couple of months ago in New York, as India were preparing for a game against Pakistan, the pitch in one of the nets had so much variable bounce that most batters refused to bat there. But Pant asked the throwdown expert to hurl the white ball at him from 18 yards on that pitch. He kept getting hit on the body, but connected a few as well with the bat. While Pant was trying to get used to the short ball, he was also trying to test his pain threshold, and now we can see all the hard work has paid off.
While former coach Rahul Dravid was effusive in his praise of Pant, current boss Gautam Gambhir, too, had a lot of good things to say about the dynamite that he possesses in his arsenal. “He’s got runs everywhere around the world, and not many wicket-keepers of that age have done it so consistently in red-ball cricket. It is always good to have someone like him who can open the game for us, and more importantly, can bring a lot of impact as well,” Gambhir had said before the Test.
As we keep discussing about Pant the batter, sometimes we forget how well he has kept on Indian pitches as well. In this Test too, he has looked in top shape and his glovework has been on point. “Probably his batting overshadows his ‘keeping many times. It’s not easy to keep against the likes of Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep on Indian conditions and what he has done behind the stumps has been remarkable as well,” Gambhir said.
For Pant, things can only get better from here and we all believe the best is yet to come.
