Harry Brook needles Rishabh Pant, then shows off but India wicketkeeper's 'greedy' counter leaves him speechless

Harry Brook tried to rattle Rishabh Pant with banter, but the India vice-captain shut him down instantly with a cheeky ‘not greedy’ reply.

In the first innings at Edgbaston, England batter Harry Brook had perfectly executed his mind games to distract India captain Shubman Gill and deny him a historic 300 in the ongoing second Test match of the five-game series. However, when he tried the same tactic on India’s vice-captain on Day 4, Rishabh Pant shut him down with a savage one-liner.

Rishabh Pant scored 90 runs in two innings in the Birmingham Test

The incident happened during Pant's knock on the fourth day of the Birmingham Test match when Brook, stationed at slip, asked him about his fastest century in his career. After Pant told him about his record in Test cricket, which is 89 balls against England at the very same venue three years back, Brook bragged about his record. Although in Test cricket it is of 80 balls, achieved during the Rawalpindi Test in 2022/23 against Pakistan, Brook told Pant of his IPL century of 55 balls, which came in 2023 for Sunrisers Hyderabad against the Kolkata Knight Riders. 

Brook then told him that he could have chased the feat during the innings, but Pant ended the banter right there with a mouth-shutting response.

Here is how the conversation went…

Brook: What's your fastest 100?

Pant: Test cricket? 80-90 balls

Brook: The fastest I've done is 55 balls. You could have done that today.

Pant: It's okay. Not very greedy for records. If it happens, it happens.

England need 536 runs more to win

England have created a reputation in the Bazball era for chasing down records in the fourth innings. They did that three years back against India in Birmingham with a record 378-run chase, and pulled off a similar one in Leeds last month against the same team.

However, this time, England have been asked to do what no teams in 148 years of Test history have done before as India set a mammoth 608-run target. What added to their woes was that by the close of the penultimate day of the match, they were down by three wickets for just 72 runs, needing 536 runs more on the last day. Brook, who helped keep England afloat in the first innings with 158 in a total of 407, was still there on 15 not out.