How many of you have seen James Anderson conceding a six by Reverse-lap in a Test match with a second new ball?
I think this is rare but we have seen this from our homegrown talent, Rishabh Pant.
So, today we are going to discuss one of the most exciting talents in the world whose name is Rishabh Pant. If I have to describe Rishabh Pant in one word that will be “Fearless” a new phenomenon in the cricket world. It will be generous to say that he is in the form of his life and shut down all his haters and critics mouth in the last 4-5 months. But this journey of his is full of pebbles till now which makes his story interesting and inspiring.
When he was 19 he came to the attention of people by his blistering knock against Nepal in Under-19 Cricket World Cup when he hit 75 runs off 24 balls and followed up with the century against Namibia after some months in an IPL auction Delhi franchise have bought him and he played a part in 2016 season of IPL and despite not playing any big inning in that IPL but he became the center of attraction in that very IPL season and there is a famous saying which applies here “coming event cast their shadows before”. And in 2017 he had wonderful IPL seasons and made his international T20 debut but it doesn’t go as expected but he doesn’t give up and gave a solid performance in IPL 2018 this season is arguably the best season for him and he also scored 1century against Sunrisers Hyderabad and after that season he got his first Test call for Team India against England series and there he doesn’t miss his chance and in his third test match he played a mouth-watering innings where he scored a hundred and his domination doesn’t end he showed some sort of batting style in Australia also when he became the first Indian Wicketkeeper to hit hundred in England and Australia and in both series he named some records in front of his name like he became the first Indian to hit a six as his first scoring shot in Test cricket, the highest number of catches in a match and also the highest number of catches in a series and all these feats are achieved in only 2 series this is quite a dream start for any player.
But on other hand in white ball cricket things were not quite working for him as he got many chances but he subsequently failed to maximise on those chances and even having a wonderful IPL season of 2019 he didn’t get selected in World Cup roster which is one of the saddest moment for him as he admitted openly in media but he was lucky that Shikhar Dhawan got injured which is really unfortunate for him but one loss is another gain same happen with Rishabh Pant he entered into the roster but he in that tragic Semi-final loss he is one the who got massive hate because of his inmature batting and playing lofted shot when team was in real critical position despite it was a collective failure of Indian batting lineup and then even after World cup things gets worse for him ,he got dropped in test cricket beacuse of his bad wicket-keeping, at that moment of time there is all darkness for him and all odds were against him but worse has to come in 2020 we all know how pandemic affected the game and all matches got cancelled and in lockdown period he gain some weight and when he comes for IPL season he was unfit at that time and 2020 IPL season is probably the worst IPL season for him he managed to score to only one fifty and his strike rate which he known for dropped to 120 and with this effect he got dropped from Australia tour in T20’s and ODI’s but he got slected in Test matches but he was not the preffered one to play the Test matches he was going as a 2nd wicket-keeper but he needs one opportunity what he got in 2nd Test but he didn’t make maximum out of it but he never gave up and winners are made when things are not working for him even Rishabh Pant know it is now or never and then finnally the day arrives when he show the world who is he, on tough pitch of sydney on day 5 it was looking impossible to save match for India and when he came to Bat india was down and that moment loss was imminent but he came he conquered he make Scintillating 97 runs missed his hundred but played a one of the heroic knock in Indian history batting and we draw that match but this was the start of a rise of a player when India going to 4th test match everyone predicted that India will not win because Kangaroos haven’t lost any Test match in Gabba from last odd 30-40 years and it was was a series decider on 5th day India needs more than 300 runs in day which is not quite easy to make but he make 89 runs and win the match and series for Team India this win is considered as the best victory in India cricket history and the main protagonist was Rishabh Pant and he goes from zero to hero only in 2 matches and in England series which is home series he outperform eveyone and even in white ball this time he make his batting speak.
Arguably, he is one of the most dangerous batsmen in the world in current scenario and if he keeps this hard work and determination surely I will not be surprised if he ended up one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen in the history of cricket.
Sportsoff 