Day one of the India-England Test has seen Rishabh Pant being more involved in the game than most of the Indian bowlers. His energy level has been different. From asking Sundar if Washington will be going to DC, to motivating players, his day took a bad turn when his poor throw cost India a four.
Rishabh Pant with his theatrics in Australia didn’t let Indian fans miss Virat Kohli. And today with Kohli back, it has been a Pant show all the while as he has even overshadowed Indian skipper. The commentators couldn’t get enough of him as he keeps chirping all day long with the same level of excitement as he did on the first ball of the day. With India down in the game, he has left no stone unturned from behind the stumps to encourage bowlers. But certain things never change.
Rishabh Pant, wicket-keeping, yes, that’s a never-ending horror story. After dropping a tough leg-side chance of Rory Burns early in the day, the Indian gloveman had done fairly well throughout the day. But in the 73rd over, Pant was back to making an error behind the stumps like he often does. Root defended a ball, called his partner for a single but realizing Pant was in close proximity to the ball, decided to send back Dom Sibley.
The 23-year-old collected the ball fairly quickly but then ended up throwing the ball waywardly to miss the stumps by a country mile. Forget the stumps, the ball even missed the mid-on fielder Ravichandran Ashwin as the ball dodged him for a four bonus runs for Root and England. Had the ball hit the stumps, it could have Sibely in trouble but thanks to Pant, it turned into salt on the fresh and open India wounds inflicted all day long by the pair.
