Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Hanuma Vihari and Virat Kohli stacked up the wood for Rishabh Pant and the dashing wicketkeeper-batter lit the bonfire in spectacular fashion as the Indians shone brightly despite some regular setbacks on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka here on Friday.
Turning on the heat on a balmy day at the PCA Stadium in his typical brutal style, Pant smashed an entertaining 97-ball 96 (9x4, 4x6) to help the Indians, who kept slipping every time they seemed to be on the ascendancy, post a strong 357/6 at stumps.
From the moment Pant walked in following the dismissal of Kohli, the left-hander seemed to be in a mood as he watched his team-mates dominate the Sri Lanka attack from the dressing room. He thought the conditions were great to tee off from the word go and he tried to belt the leather from the first ball, a ploy which normally brings about his downfall.
The 24-year-old was smart enough to realise that and with India losing their fourth wicket at 175, Pant curbed his early enthusiasm. In the company of Shreyas Iyer, he quickly abandoned his ultra-aggressive approach and banked on his defensive skills to not only get his eye in but help India tide over a mini stutter. He batted with maturity, nicely mixing the singles with an odd boundary to keep his juices flowing nicely.
Then, in astounding fashion, he flipped the switch after completing his half-century in 73 balls. Having spent enough time in the middle and gotten a measure of the bowling and conditions, Pant opened his shoulders in bruising fashion to mercilessly slay Lankan spinners Lasith Embuldeniya and Dhananjaya de Silva. The crowd, which had come to cheer Kohli playing a momentous 100th Test, lapped up the wholesome entertainment on offer.
He carted left-arm spinner Embuldeniya for two successive sixes and two boundaries in the 76th over, kickstarting the fireworks. Next over de Silva bore the assault, Pant smacking the off-spinner for a four and six. Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne knew a late evening storm was coming his way and he banished his fielders to the deep in a bid to contain the Pant fury.
However, when Pant is in full cry, he can be an extremely difficult force to contain, in fact unstoppable. The only way is if Pant stops himself by trying to cause one havoc too many and loses direction. Even stationing all the fielders around boundary line doesn’t deter Pant from going for his shots as he’s supremely confident of clearing the ropes. And that’s exactly what happened.
Despite the protection de Silva and Embuldeniya enjoyed around the boundary, Pant cared less. He got to the pitch of the ball early and if he didn’t, he pulled out the one-handed shot which too packs in plenty of power and force. The balls from the two spinners just kept going into the stands as Pant’s strike rate post his half-century skyrocketed to the mid 300s.
With the assault being relentless and Embuldeniya and de Silva looking like helpless lambs for slaughter, Karunaratne had no option but to bring his pacers Vishwa Fernando and Suranga Lakmal back. Pant, in the 90s now, tried the same attacking approach against the duo but with them bowling slightly short of a length and giving no room to swing his arms, he found it difficult to force the issue.
Pant, out in the nervous nineties on four previous, wanted to desperately to score his fifth century before stumps. Sadly, it wasn’t to be as he played the wrong line against Lakmal to see his stumps rattled. Pant just couldn’t believe it and stood shocked at the crease. He’d just thrown away another potential ton. The team management and fans looked bewildered at the anti-climax. Pant trudged back heart-broken but not before setting the pulses racing of everyone who watched his innings.
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