IND vs ENG, 1st Test: Pant shows England how to 'Bazball' and Stokes can't stop laughing - WATCH
&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "IND vs ENG, 1st Test: Pant shows England how to 'Bazball' and Stokes can't stop laughing - WATCH")
Pant shows England how to 'Bazball' and Stokes can't stop laughing Photograph: (AFP)
IND vs ENG, 1st Test: Coming in to bat shortly after Yashasvi Jaiswal's dismissal just after lunch, Pant smacked his second delivery of the innings over the the bowler's head for a four to clearly show his intentions.
England may have invented Bazball (attacking batting style) but it was Rishabh Pant on day 1 (Jun 20) of the first Test against England at Headingley who showed how it is played. Coming in to bat shortly after Yashasvi Jaiswal's dismissal just after lunch, Pant smacked his second delivery of the innings over the the bowler's head for a four to clearly show his intentions and how he was going to play in the innings. The bowler was England skipper Ben Stokes, who had taken a wicket in the over already, could not stop laughing about Pant's audacity.
The ball which dismissed Jasiwal was a ripper and took his off stumps through his defence despite the batter being on 101 - first ever ton by an Indian opener at Headingley. For any other batter, the dismissal would have put a seed of doubt in the mind and some caution but not for Pant. The Indian wicketkeeper-batter dismissed Stokes as a net bowler. Have a look at the video below:
Pant also reached his fifty in the last session of the day - making him the most successful Indian wicketkeeper-batter in terms of runs in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) along with 3,000-run mark in Test cricket. His century partnership with skipper Shubman Gill - who become the first Indian skipper to score a ton in England vs England in his maiden Test as captain - put Indian in a commanding position as they reached 350-run mark for loss on only three wickets.
India went in the Test match as an underdog with no Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara or Ravi Ashwin - a first since 2011 - but came out triumphant for sure. It was, however, a debut to forget for Sai Sudharsan who had earlier gotten his Test cap from Pujara.
The southpaw was dismissed for a duck on the stroke of lunch on a nothing, going-towards-leg delivery in his first ever innings for India in whites.