MOHALI: Rishabh Pant is an anomaly in Indian cricket. He changes the course of a game faster than the opinions about him. Friday was just another day of now-usual Pant-mania as he walked in at 170/3 40 minutes before tea, took on a rather erratic but effective Sri Lankan attack and left the field half an hour before stumps after ravaging the tourists with a 97-ball 96 on the opening day of the two-Test series.
The 172 minutes of exhilarating batting, which was ended by Suranga Lakmal breaching his defence with the second new ball, had put India in a position of dominance with 357/6 on the board at stumps. The carnage inflicted by Pant aside, Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne may be ruing playing three seamers and one specialist spinner. He has laid the foundation for Ravindra Jadeja (batting on 45) and Ashwin (unbeaten on 10) to bat Sri Lanka out of the game on Saturday morning.
He was indeed an anomaly on Friday — a day which was meant to celebrate Virat Kohli's 100th Test. Every batter including new Test skipper Rohit Sharma (29), Kohli (45) and new No. 3 Hanuma Vihari (58) seemed to have the Sri Lankan attack on the mat but failed to carry on and score big as the pitch offered some variable pace and bounce along with a hint of sharp turn.
Pant's stocks have grown exponentially in the last one year. That he has grown to become the latest rockstar of Indian cricket was evident when the near seven thousand-strong crowd gave him a deafening welcome even before Kohli could cross the boundary line on his way back to the pavilion after left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya had bowled him.
1/10:Pant powers India to 357/6 on Day 1
<p>Rishabh Pant smashed 96 to help India to 357/6 on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka after Virat Kohli fell agonisingly short of fifty in his 100th five-day match on Friday. (AP Photo)</p>
2/10:Pant, Jadeja resurrect India
<p>Pant put on a key stand of 104 with fellow left-hander Ravindra Jadeja, who stood unbeaten on 45, after the hosts slipped to 228/5 on day one in Mohali. (PTI Photo)</p>
3/10:Embuldeniya attempts to check India
<p>Sri Lankan bowlers led by spinner Lasith Embuldeniya attempted to check India with wickets at the start, but Pant took the attack to the opposition in the final session of play. (PTI Photo)</p>
4/10:Pant misses a well-deserved century
<p>Pant missed out on his century after being bowled by fast bowler Suranga Lakmal following Sri Lanka's decision to take the second new ball in the 81st over. (AP Photo)</p>
5/10:India lose Kohli, Vihari in quick succession
<p>Sri Lanka fought back with wickets in the second session after they sent back Kohli and Hanuma Vihari, who made 58, in quick succession. (AFP Photo)</p>
6/10:Kohli joins 8000 runs club
<p>Kohli surpassed 8,000 Test runs, but left-arm spinner Embuldeniya bowled the former captain who stood in disbelief and then walked back to applause from the spectators. (PTI Photo)</p>
7/10:Fans cheered Kohli's every run
<p>Kohli, who last scored an international century in November 2019, scored 45 -- with every run cheered -- and put on 90 runs for the third wicket with Vihari. (PTI Photo)</p>
8/10:Vihari played a gritty innings
<p>Vihari scored his fifth Test half-century but departed soon after Kohli, dragging on an incoming delivery from left-arm quick Vishwa Fernando. (PTI Photo)</p>
9/10:Pant, Shreyas steady India
<p>Pant, often criticised for throwing away his wicket in Tests, then put on 53 with Shreyas Iyer, who made 27 before being trapped lbw off Dhananjaya de Silva's off-spin. (AP Photo)</p>
10/10:Solid knock from Pant
<p>Pant stood firm with Jadeja for company to reach his eighth Test half-century. He kept up the assault until a good-length delivery from Lakmal got through his defences. (PTI Photo)</p>This is the same venue where he was booed three years ago in an ODI against Australia when he was keeping wickets in place of MS Dhoni. Irony is that the same crowd was on its feet as he struggled to drag himself off the field after getting out and that he has seldom looked so distraught even after the rather cringeworthy dismissals he has endured in his short career.
This could have been his second successive Test century following the epic knock in the last innings in Cape Town in January. Instead, he has more scores in the 90s than his four Test hundreds. In a world forever obsessed with milestones, Pant has churned out more match-turning knocks in his 29 Tests than a lot of Test veterans.
When India lost Shreyas Iyer to Dhanajay for 27 at 228/5 after a 53-run partnership with Pant, India needed stability. Instead, Pant took the high-speed route to take India to safety at the earliest. It seemed a given that Embuldeniya's left-arm spin was destined to suffer at the hands of Pant. The skip-down-the-tracks and his signature one-handed hits over the boundary were in play.
It didn't matter if Sri Lanka had four men patrolling the boundary from long-off to deep square-leg just like former India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha had set the field on his Ranji Trophy debut when he was only 18. He smacked Ojha for three sixes then and he cleared the fence four times on Friday.
This may not have been the most potent attack that Pant was up against, but his disconsolate walk towards the pavilion suggests his hunger for big runs has just now started to take an ominous shape.
