TimesofIndia.com in Leeds: Back in 2016, a young Rishabh Pant, about to turn 19 and still finding his feet in the first-class setup, walked up to then Delhi head coach KP Bhaskar for a conversation regarding his batting position for the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season. The wicketkeeper-batter requested the coach to give him the No. 5 spot, who in return asked for runs. The two reached an agreement, and Pant held up his end of the bargain, amassing 972 runs in the season, which included four centuries (including one triple hundred) and two half-centuries.The role clarity before that memorable domestic season helped Pant score runs for fun, and he hasn’t stopped since. The stages have changed, scenarios have been different, but Pant remained the same – an absolute freak with the bat in hand. There have been occasions where he has attracted criticism for his means and ways in the white-ball formats, but in red-ball, he has continued to be a freak. And that freak turns into a beast with clarity of thought, and he loves the No. 5 position.
This series isn’t the first time he has batted at his preferred number, but the clarity with which he spoke about his and Shubman Gill’s batting position before the series got underway was enough to gauge the thought process in his head and in the dressing room. And it wasn’t a surprise that he delivered in the first innings of the series with a 178-ball 134, studded with 12 boundaries, laced with six sixes, and plenty of heart-in-the-mouth moments.He would lose his bat, shoe, balance, and shape but continued to find the runs like only he can. Different angles but the same intent—even if it came at the cost of not listening to his captain at the other end. Gill wouldn’t advise him on what to do but kept throwing subtle one-liners. When Pant was approaching the 90s, Gill, sensing theatrics, asked his teammate, “Samne khelke bhagega, mai ready rahunga (Will you run after hitting straight, I will stay ready)?”“Nahi mai saamne nahi maarunga (No, I won’t play straight),” came the crisp reply, and he went back into his crease next ball to dispatch Shoaib Bashir into the stands.Gill, like others in the dressing room, knows by now that he will play the only way he knows, but no one stops trying. Pant was caught on the stump-mic telling Joe Root about all the fielders near the boundary, but he went down on one knee and slog-swept Bashir for another maximum.England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith couldn’t believe it; all Root could do was smile as the left-hander scratched the popping crease again to take guard for the next adventure. Yes, next adventure. Every delivery he faces is an event, and every knock he constructs is an adventure. An adventure not for the faint-hearted and an adventure only he can pull off.“The falling paddle sweep,” as Ravi Shastri called it during commentary. An outrageous shot which only Pant could have even attempted, but the great Sachin Tendulkar saw a lot of cricketing intelligence there.“Rishabh’s falling paddle sweep is not accidental. It is intentional and extremely clever. Going down with the shot allows him to get under the ball and scoop it over leg slip with control,” the Little Master wrote in a post on social media platform X.Only Pant can clear the ropes comfortably with one hand coming off, only he can get praised by his skipper for ducking under a bouncer, and only he can deflate the opposition in a single session of audacious stroke play. Hundred No. 7, brought up with a one-handed six over mid-on, was a special one in Leeds. The celebration and the somersault entertained the crowd further as the showstopper put on another box-office performance.He is well and truly one-of-a-kind, and now with clarity of thought and at his favorite batting position, he would look to emulate that memorable 2016 domestic season in this English summer.
