Rishabh, The Great

C.L.R. James was a renowned cricket historian. He authored Beyond A Boundary, one of the most celebrated books written on the game. He was covering the 1964 Ashes Test at Leeds in the company of famed West Indies allrounder, Learie Constantine, when Rohan Kanhai entered the press box. Upon seeing the left-handed batting maestro, the legendary Trinidadian leaned over to him and said, “There is Kanhai. You know, at times he goes crazy.”

 James wasn’t sure what he meant at first, but the explanation wasn’t long in coming: “Some batsmen play brilliantly sometimes and at ordinary times they go ahead as usual. That one, ‘nodding to Kanhai,’ is different from all of them. On certain days…he makes up his mind to let them have it..”

 India’s wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was batting normally – for him -- during the first day of the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar series. But when he was 10, he made off 19 deliveries, he decided to “let them have it” and went down on one knee to sweep Jofra Archer for four.

 Now, we are talking about Jofra Archer here, a man capable of hurling down a cricket ball as fast as any bowler in history. The audacity it takes to attempt such a shot is mind-numbing. And then, next ball, Pant was even more daring in attempting what looked like a reverse sweep shot. He missed and was hit on the thigh pad.

 England fast bowler Chris Woakes is not as quick as Archer. Nonetheless, few batters in the game try to reverse sweep one of his yorkers as Pant did during the 68th over. Unfortunately for the batter, he missed, and the ball smashed into his boot. Pant was 37 at the time and couldn’t continue. Later, it was reported that he suffered a fractured toe and would be out of action for some time. Despite this diagnosis, he returned to bat on the second day to much applause and added 17 more runs, to end on 54. His services were not required in the second innings, but he was needed for his team to win or save the game; it is a sure thing that he’d have batted.

 In this day of T20 cricket, the kind of forthrightness with which Pant plays is not entirely out of place. Had he played years ago and attempted to reverse sweep Dennis Lillee, say, or Malcolm Marshall, he’d probably have been carted off somewhere and not seen in his nation’s colours again. Except, these are different times; the game has changed. His approach is still exceedingly bold but not inconceivable.

 Pant is an adventurer posing as a wicketkeeper-batter. In the first innings of the first Test of this series he ran down the pitch to England captain Ben Stokes and hit him back over his head for four. In the second innings he ran down the pitch, second ball again, this time to Chris Woakes. The resultant edge flew over the cordon for another four. The interesting thing is that he did not continue in that vein, and actually completed well-made centuries in both innings, becoming the second keeper to do so after Zimbabwean Andy Flower.

 In early 2022, in Johannesburg, Pant came to the middle with India in trouble at 163/4, having lost Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara in quick succession to Kagiso Rabada. Three deliveries into his innings, he chased down the pitch to the same bowler and was caught by the wicketkeeper without scoring. It looked bad.

Not surprisingly, Pant was heavily lambasted: “…no excuses for that shot, no excuses. None of that nonsense about that being his natural game. There has to be some sense of responsibility shown,” chided India batting great, Sunil Gavaskar. Current head coach Gautam Gambhir was not impressed either: “I've always believed that there is a very thin line between bravery and stupidity. You can't call this bravery, it's stupidity.”

 These were harsh but somewhat understandable words, considering the level of disappointment the dismissal caused. Falling to a big shot at an inopportune time can lead to serious consequences. To cite one example: Australia was trying to eke out a painstaking victory in a low-scoring game against South Africa in Sydney in January 1994. Damian Martyn was six from 59 balls, and Australia were 110/8, searching for 117, when he aimed a lavish drive over cover and was caught. Australia fell to defeat by six runs. Martyn, a classically gifted batter, was made something of a pariah, never wearing his country’s colours again until he was recalled for some One Day Internationals (ODIs) in 1997 and for Tests three years later. 

 But consider this: were his shot successfully executed and the ball for six, as it appeared he was aiming for, Australia would likely have won rather than lost the game. Martyn would have been swallowed into the ecstatic embrace of his teammates as he ran to the pavilion and would have been hailed as a hero instead.

 Pant has played some wonderfully aggressive and useful knocks in his career. There was his match-winning 89 in Brisbane in 2021 which led his team to victory. His counterattacking 97 at Sydney in that same series was instrumental in saving his side from defeat. His 146 off 111 balls against the might of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad was brutal and his 101 in Ahmedabad against England in 2021 was pure brilliance.

The one thing you are assured of getting in any substantial innings from Pant is entertainment. He is, and has always been, what they call box office. His performances with the bat are not to be missed, and, considering his current level of consistency, it is a good thing he was not too much dissuaded from his assertive approach. He will, on occasion, get out playing the outrageous shot. Those same outrageous shots, however, will allow him to dismember opposition attacks and place his team on a path to victory.

 “Kanhai also, “wrote CLR James, referring to the West Indies’ 1963 tour of England, “in one or two innings that he played, even in the first innings of the Oval Test, made a bad stroke and then the next ball made a worse stroke and got out to it.” 

“He did that quite a few times. But it is the same Kanhai who hit 77 in ninety-three minutes, one of the most brilliant innings I remember seeing for a long time. If he is going to do the second, you have to make up your mind to accept the first.” 

“You can’t have it both ways.”