Team India could unleash a new spinner in the 2nd Test against Bangladesh starting Thursday in Kanpur. And to everyone's surprise, it may not be Kuldeep Yadav, or Axar Patel, but Rishabh Pant of all people. The BCCI, on the eve of the match, teased Pant the spinner as he could be seen rolling his arms over in the nets to Shubman Gill. Pant recently bowled one over in his only appearance during the Delhi Premier League, which KL Rahul very well remembered. Just as Gill told Ravindra Jadeja to grab the ball, promising an array of flourishing cover drives, the camera cut to Pant with pads on and the ball in hand.
"Rishabh, tune Delhi Premier League mein bhi bowling kari thi na? (You recently bowled in the DPL, right?), to which Pant replied saying 'Oh yes, they needed one runs. I said I might as well bowl). Rahul had a wicked smile on his face which summed up the surreal scenes transpiring at Kanpur's Green Park stadium. Pant then began bowling to Gill, even managing to fox the India No. 3 batter. The excitement was all over Pant's face. "Woohoo! Kya beat kara hai yaar (Look at the way I beat you)," he said with a touch of taunt directed at his teammate.
Pant bowled a couple of high full-tosses which Gill defended chest high. With the fun over, Gill then turned to take serious throwdowns in the nets, launching some lusty aerial blows. Not sure if the bowler he faced was Pant on that occasion, but going by his comments after the drills 'Tagdi practice karwayi tune, Rishabh (You made my practice well), you've got to believe that perhaps some of them were bowled by Pant after all.
{{/usCountry}}Pant bowled a couple of high full-tosses which Gill defended chest high. With the fun over, Gill then turned to take serious throwdowns in the nets, launching some lusty aerial blows. Not sure if the bowler he faced was Pant on that occasion, but going by his comments after the drills 'Tagdi practice karwayi tune, Rishabh (You made my practice well), you've got to believe that perhaps some of them were bowled by Pant after all.
{{/usCountry}}Will Pant bowl in Kanpur?
Given the nature of the Kanpur surface, the Indian team management is likely to tweak their bowling combination from the last game, going ahead with three spinners and two pacer combination. If that is the way forward, the inclusion of Kuldeep is a foregone conclusion, meaning him, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja could form India's three-pronged spin attack. However, irrespective of it, if India find themselves in a position where they are able to pin Bangladesh down to the mat, do not rule out the sight of Pant taking his keeping gloves and pads off, hand them over to Rahul and bowl a few dibby-dobblies of his own.
In the past too, Indian wicketkeepers haven't shied away from bowling a few overs, most famously MS Dhoni against England during the 2011 Test series. He did so in one of the ODIs too, with the wicketkeeping duties momentarily snapped up by Virat Kohli. In all probability, Pant won't be needed as he is just back into the Test fold and wouldn't want to push his body ahead of a busy season, but with Gautam Gambhir operating, as the old adage goes, never say never. Just last month, the likes of Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh and Suryakumar Yadav had collectively put in a few overs collectively in the T20Is against Sri Lanka.