Watch: Rishabh Pant sends his bat to square leg and ball to backward point

Rishabh Pant often has the tendency to play the one-handed heave to get a boundary, which may not be the most attractive way of scoring runs, but he tends to get runs, which is all that matters. However, during India’s 2nd innings at Newlands, Cape Town, in the middle of one of his best knocks, […]
 

Rishabh Pant often has the tendency to play the one-handed heave to get a boundary, which may not be the most attractive way of scoring runs, but he tends to get runs, which is all that matters. However, during India’s 2nd innings at Newlands, Cape Town, in the middle of one of his best knocks, he did something unthinkable.

Duanne Olivier came in to bowl the 60th over of the Indian innings during the second session on Day 3. Pant, who was running out of partners, lashed out hard at a good length delivery from the bowler and lost control of his bat.

He swung it so hard, the bat flew towards backward square leg and the ball, which did make contact with the bat, went straight to the fielder at backward point. Everyone around the batter saw the funny side of it, and it comes as no amusement that it was Rishabh Pant pulling off such antics. The 24-year-old kept the innings afloat, but this moment was a major talking point.

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Here’s that moment when Rishabh Pant took “Throw your bat at it” seriously

India took a slender 1st innings lead of 13 runs, adding further pressure on the batters to put up a big total in their second innings. But with wickets falling around, Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli added a valuable 94-run stand which kept the Indians in the hunt. After Kohli’s dismissal, the lower order struggled to stick for long periods, with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur walking back almost instantly.

The young batter continued his pyrotechnics to keep the scorecard ticking, and managed to get the Indian lead past the 200 mark. He was under immense pressure lately for playing some rash shots and giving his wicket away, most recently in their defeat at Wanderers, but he looked very calm and composed throughout the innings and got his side in a decent position.