The geometry-defying genius of Rishabh Pant

The geometry-defying genius of Rishabh Pant

Graceful. Elegant. Effortless. These are the adjectives that come to mind when you think of a typical left-hand batter. Someone who caresses the ball through covers and turns it on the leg side with a silken touch.

Rishabh Pant is not that left-hand batter. He is the antithesis of that. Still, he enthrals you with his own, almost unique style. When at his best – as he was during his unbeaten 88 off 43 balls against Gujarat Titans – he gets into these geometry-defying positions and throws not just his bat but his whole body at the ball.

Consider the third ball of the 20th over of Delhi Capitals’ innings. Mohit Sharma went for a wide yorker. Pant, who was already standing on the off stump, reached out for it, got it on the full and made contact just outside the wide guideline, with his head falling towards the point region.

By the time he completed the shot, he was balancing on his left hand, left knee and left foot. His right leg was stretched far away with the toe pointing down the wicket. As if he was a contortionist first, and a cricketer later.

In the meantime, the bat swing had completed a full circle, and he was able to generate so much power that the ball flew almost all the way to the deep point boundary. On the next three balls, he smashed three sixes to make it a 31-run over.

“Some blokes are batting like it’s a PlayStation game,” Tristan Stubbs said on the official broadcast before the match. Pant just demonstrated what his team-mate stated. His onslaught lifted Capitals to 224 for 4, which turned out to be just enough in the end.

Things were not so rosy when Pant walked in. After Titans opted to bowl on a pitch that was initially two-paced, Sandeep Warrier picked up three wickets to reduce Capitals to 44 for 3 in the sixth over.

In the middle with Pant was Axar Patel, who was promoted to No. 3. “The only conversation between me and Axar was: ‘Let’s keep going, let’s get eight or nine every over’,” Pant said after the match. “We knew if we targeted their main spinners, because that’s how Gujarat play…their two spinners [Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad] handle the game very well in the middle overs. And that’s what we talked about, that if we get something, we would take it on, [otherwise] will keep rotating the strike.”

It could not have panned out better with the duo taking Rashid and Noor for 22 each in their respective first two overs. That put Capitals in a much healthier state: 93 for 3 after 11 overs. The pair found at least one boundary in every Rashid and Noor over.

While Axar was more aggressive against spin, Pant took it upon himself to take down pace. When Mohit was introduced in the 12th over, Pant welcomed him with a pulled four. Later in the over, Mohit bowled a slower ball, his go-to delivery in this format. Pant was waiting for it. He smacked his lips and cut it past point for another boundary.

When Mohit returned in the 16th over, Pant hit him for two sixes. Axar fell in the 17th but by then the two had added 113 in 11.2 overs.

Pant reached his fifty in 34 balls, with yet another six off Mohit. In all, he hammered Mohit for 62 runs in 18 balls – the most for a batter against one bowler in a T20 (where ESPNcricinfo has data). Of his eight sixes, seven came off Mohit’s bowling.

Since Pant’s comeback after a life-threatening car crash, his every move has been followed keenly. He looked rusty initially but has shown signs of improvement with every passing match. And on Wednesday night, it seemed he was back to his best.

After the match, Pant was asked if he also thought so, and if there was an indicator of it. “Whenever I hit a six in a match, it pleases my heart,” he replied. “At the same time, I am loving being on the field for each and every match and trying to do the best I can from my side.

“The only thing I can say is the more I stay on the ground, the better I feel. Coming off a long break, every day matters to me. Every hour I spend on the field, I just love it.”

Before the start of the IPL, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said if Pant could keep wicket, he could be in India’s T20 World Cup squad. Shah does not have a say in the selection, but after last night no one would grudge him if his words came true.