Pant is the real deal, never mind his occasional dalliance with ordinariness

Rishabh Pant's journey from a lackluster start to a powerhouse in cricket, showcasing resilience, talent, and humor.

He looked like Rishabh Pant, he answered to the name Rishabh Pant, but for more than a half-hour at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday night, it appeared as if an impostor had taken his place. There was none of the characteristic ebullience, no muscling of the ball, no electric running between the wickets, no shape as he tried to hit the cover off the ball. Rishabh Pant sleepwalked through his innings, unable to build on the hectic start provided by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, struggling to sail in the wake of his marauding skipper Suryakumar Yadav.

Even the singles weren’t readily forthcoming and his first shot in semi-anger nearly proved his undoing. Walking across to Maheesh Theekshana to shovel-sweep, he was put down by Asitha Fernando at long-leg, the ball trickling away to the boundary and throwing him a lifeline. That didn’t energise him either. When Suryakumar was dismissed for an outrageous 58 in the first Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka, Pant had contributed just 16 off 17 deliveries in a third-wicket association worth 76.

What on earth was going on? Where was the acclaimed destroyer of bowling attacks? Where was the intrepid batter who thought little of going down on his haunches and smiting the ball behind square on the on-side, ending up on his backside even as the little orb sailed over the boundary ropes? Where was the gathering force that could crunch the ball through the off-side with such ferocity that even five yards was too much for the boundary-rider to cover? Where was Rishabh Pant?

Lying in wait, as it transpired. Having thrown him one lifeline as a fielder, Fernando handed Pant another gift – a juicy full toss that was disdainfully whipped over mid-wicket for six. From 20 off 23, Pant had moved to 26 off 24. A false dawn, or the start of a late charge? The next ball provided an emphatic answer – another full toss, this time clattered over point for four.

By the time he was dismissed by the excellent Matheesha Pathirana in the penultimate over, Pant had leapfrogged to 49 off 33. He had more than caught up with balls faced, blasting 29 off his final 10 deliveries. There he was, the Rishabh Pant the cricketing world has come to love and admire. And envy and fear if one isn’t an Indian fan.

With Indian cricket on the throes of transition across formats, Pant is the bridge between the glorious past and the exciting future. He is only 26, but a mature, experienced, seasoned 26 who has literally stared the afterlife in the face and come back to tell the tale. With nearly 140 international caps against his name, he is the consummate all-format player, his unabashed ball-striking complemented by his excellent glovework that isn’t quite steeped in orthodoxy but that is also not as unconventional as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s.

Pant has chosen his mentor and role model well. For nearly a decade and a half, Dhoni was Indian cricket’s go-to option, first as a long-maned free-flowing batter who hit the ball the proverbial country mile and brought smarts to his wicketkeeping, then as captain fantastic who pulled non-existent rabbits out of imaginary hats, and finally as the mature, understated senior statesman who pulled the strings inconspicuously even as Virat Kohli donned the captaincy garb. Anyone who succeeded Dhoni would be measured, unfairly, against the great man. Wriddhiman Saha perhaps felt the pinch in the five-day game, but it’s to Pant’s credit that he has more than held his own, setting himself up as the X-factor in Test matches while, steadily, threatening to translate his immense white-ball potential into decisive performances.