With first ODI ton, Rishabh Pant broadens his realm

Unlike what you expect of the burly left-hander, he is way more than just a smash-and-grab hustler.

Bowling analysts probably have a field day making dossiers on how to stop Rishabh Pant. Plug the pull shot and Pant is basically maimed. Tease him with the leaving delivery, especially in the initial overs, and he is bound to walk into the trap. Premeditated shots make him look desperate but Pant doesn’t care.

Rishabh Pant plays a shot during the final ODI against England at Old Trafford (AFP)

And of late bowlers have been trying the wider line outside his batting arc but Pant still flashes at it hard, sometimes at the risk of the bottom hand coming off the bat. Nothing about him seems to be polished, composed or prudent. As long as Rishabh Pant is at the crease, he will score but also keep the bowlers interested. So, drop him at your peril.

Jos Buttler will bear the burden of that reality, having watched Pant score a stupendous match-winning century after missing an easy stumping when he was only on 18. “When you give players a chance, they will hurt you,” he said matter-of-factly after India won the third ODI by five wickets on Sunday to win the series 2-1.

It isn’t easy to analyse what drives Pant. He may give you the image of a compulsive risk-taker but Pant’s strength is also his competitive spirit when the chips are down, something we have witnessed comparatively more in Test cricket. With India losing their top-four for 72 on Sunday, Pant finally got the time and scope to successfully run that template in white-ball cricket as well.

Unlike what you expect of Pant, he is no smash-and-grab hustler. He bides his time, albeit quite crudely, versions of which we have seen in the IPL where his strike rates have plummeted abysmally at times.

But Pant’s genius lies in reversing that slide with a barrage of runs, like how he plundered five boundaries off David Willey in Manchester. Quickly forgotten was the fact that Pant was 19 off 28 when Hardik Pandya joined him. By the time Pandya was dismissed on 71 off 55 balls, Pant was on 77 off 88 but he had done the hard yards by then, fending off a disciplined English bowling attack and primed to take the attack to them.

Pandya, the more flamboyant half of the 133-run partnership with Pant that resuscitated India’s chase, said Pant’s understanding of the overall game held India in good stead.

"Rishabh, he paced that innings, it was very important for us, that partnership as well and obviously the way he finished," he said. "We all know what kind of talent he has. When it comes out, it's very pleasing to the eye. Your heartbeat also goes up but at the same time you are in awe of the kind of shots he plays."

Of the few things done right on this white-ball tour of England, India’s middle-order stability is probably a memorable high point. Pandya obviously is the allrounder India hope will stay fit enough to keep churning out the runs and wickets.

And now with Pant among runs at a slightly higher position than he usually bats, India know they have more or less sorted the connecting link between a malfunctioning top-order and the lower-order. More pertinently, India knows all isn’t lost even when it looks like.

"These guys haven't batted for a long time in the middle overs, today we got to see that as well especially from Hardik and Rishabh," said India captain Rohit Sharma after the match. "I am quite pleased with both of them. They were quite clinical with the bat. At no given point of time, they were panicking and trying to do something different. They just kept backing themselves and played cricketing shots all the way through."

That Pant took 27 ODIs to score his first hundred may not augur well with the dashing image he has been forced to grow up with. But he also knows the downside of getting out quickly while trying to attack. It’s clear he wants to finish games. And he is willing to dig in his heels for that, making this version of Pant much more threatening.

"When the team is under pressure and you bat like that, that's what you aspire to do,” said Pant during the presentation. “Hopefully I will remember my first ODI century for the rest of my life. But when I was in there, I was just focusing on one ball at a time.”