Seven times Rishabh Pant didn’t need cricketing skills to entertain us on the field

India’s exciting young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is so often the talk of the town. Pant’s enterprising brand of cricket – whether it is with the bat or behind the stumps – has been a cause of delight for modern-day fans. At times when he has faltered, people have questioned Pant’s unorthodox methods, but the cricketer […]
 By Kashish Chadha Aug 9, 2021, 13:26 IST
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Seven times Rishabh Pant didn’t need cricketing skills to entertain us on the field

India’s exciting young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is so often the talk of the town. Pant’s enterprising brand of cricket – whether it is with the bat or behind the stumps – has been a cause of delight for modern-day fans.

At times when he has faltered, people have questioned Pant’s unorthodox methods, but the cricketer has been largely unfazed and has shown an incredible level of conviction in his style.

WATCH: Persistent Rishabh Pant Plays Down Virat Kohli; Vehemently Convinces Skipper To Take Review

But the thing with Pant is that he doesn’t need to be smashing the ball to entertain people. His antics on and off the field are very much part of the package.

A pure character of the game, Pant doesn’t need to try to be funny. He naturally is.

Seven times Rishabh Pant didn’t need cricketing skills to entertain us on the field

There have been several instances already where the young gun has left fans in splits with his actions or words, instances that will stay in their memories.

Seven times Rishabh Pant didn’t need cricketing skills to entertain us on the field

Rishabh Pant has played 22 Tests, 18 ODIs and 33 T20Is for India so far.

When Rishabh Pant entertained fans with his antics

1. First on the list is an instance from the fourth Test in Ahmedabad earlier this year against England where, battling pain and fatigue under the scorching heat in Gujarat, Pant took a short breather and called for physio Nitin Patel to check with him.

As Patel handed the batsman a necessary health drink to get him going, he was seen spitting it out, seemingly unamused with its bitter nature, and quickly took some water to feel much better. One Twitter user, however, gave the scene a completely different interpretation, which made it even funnier.

2. Rishabh Pant holds no fears and has an innate ability to laugh at himself, which was on show during the famous Brisbane Test earlier in the year against Australia. Before his remarkable innings helped India breach the fortress ‘Gabba’, Pant was seen making funny sounds from behind the stumps.

Keeping to off-spinner Washington Sundar with Matthew Wade at the striker’s end, Pant was heard uttering something inexplicable but extremely humorous as Wade hit the ball to mid-on and ran across for a single.

Also Read: “Rishabh Pant Letting Me Down With DRS Calls” – R Ashwin’s comments misconstrued

A moment later, the camera panned on Pant and he was seen laughing as he recognised he did something that made sense only to him.

3. In the same ‘Gabba’ Test match, Pant was heard amusingly singing a weird song from behind the stumps. Once again the bowler was Sundar and as the Australian batsman nudged the ball for a single, Pant said something to the close-in fieldsman before going ahead singing, “Spiderman, Spiderman…”. The small clip of the same went viral over social media.

 

4. Now, this one would’ve made even the easy-going Shikhar Dhawan slightly worried, as Rishabh Pant started playing around with son Zoravar at the sidelines of an IPL 2019 game but by tying him up with a clothing and moving him around in the air. It was comical and certainly not the best example of ‘babysitting’ that Pant would have wanted to set.

 

5. The next of Rishabh Pant’s funny incidents is from the last year’s IPL in UAE where he was seen taking the mickey out of Delhi Capitals (DC) coach Ricky Ponting. As Ponting went about a virtual interview of his with the commentators on the sidelines, Pant came around at the back and started making faces as if mimicking the legendary Australian cricketer. Once Ponting found out what Pant had been up to, even he started laughing.

 

6. While one Olympics was going on in Tokyo, Rishabh Pant was playing another of his own in the just-concluded first Test at Trent Bridge. This funny instance is from the England second-innings. Having grabbed hold of the ball from a pacer with his hands up and knees bent, Pant started leapfrogging sideways towards the slip cordon. While skipper Virat Kohli was busy having an appeal for caught standing at first slip, Rohit Sharma positioned next to him was taken by a shock when a jumping Pant reached near him.

 

7. Last but certainly not the least is that ‘babysitting’ story. How that word came to be associated with Pant is very well known. But the backstory here is worth a recall. While batting in the Perth Test of the 2018-19 tour of Australia, home team captain and wicketkeeper Tim Paine tried to disturb Pant’s concentration by asking him whether he would like to look after his kids at home and allow him to take his wife out for a movie?

 

Amusingly, soon after the Test match got over, a picture went viral over social media where Pant was clicked with Paine’s wife and his two kids, catering to the Aussie skipper’s request to babysit his kids. Even more funnily, when Indian team support group ‘Bharat Army’ sang a song created for Rishabh Pant in the following Test in Sydney, they made it a point to make a note of the babysitting story.

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