(UTV | INDIA) – Rishabh Pant enlightened India’s chase of 260 in the third ODI against England on Sunday. The visitors were crawling at 21/2 in the fifth over when the southpaw walked out to bat and changed the course of the game.
Pant brought his maiden ODI hundred at Old Trafford, ending up with an unbeaten 125 off 113 balls. His magnificent innings was laced with 16 boundaries and 2 maximums.
Before notching up the three figures, he featured in a match-winning 133-run stand for the fifth wicket with all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who departed after scoring a 55-ball 71.
The 24-year-old was adjudged the player of the match for his heroics against England. After having received the honour and his conversation at the post-match show, Pant came across former India head coach Ravi Shastri.
Both Pant and Shastri hugged each other but what grabbed everyone’s attention was the latter taking the bottle of champagne from the India wicketkeeper-batter.
Pant offering his champagne to Ravi Shastri#INDvENG #OldTrafford #Pant #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/n9HguNNuID
— Tejesh R. Salian (@tejrsalian) July 17, 2022
The incident was captured on camera and the video was shared on Twitter. “Pant offering his champagne to Ravi Shastri #INDvENG #OldTrafford #Pant #TeamIndia,” the caption of the video read.
Pant’s terrific knock not only just helped India clinch the ODI series 2-1 but also let Rohit Sharma become the first Indian captain to win both ODI and T20I series in England.
Speaking at the post-match show, Pant shared his thought process while facing the English bowlers. He added that he always enjoys batting in England, the place where he also bagged his maiden Test ton back in 2018.
“Hopefully I remember (this knock) for the rest of my life. I was focusing on one ball at a time when I was batting. When your team is under pressure and you bat like that .. something I aspire to do. I always enjoy playing in England, at the same time enjoy the atmosphere and the situation,” said Pant.
“The more you play the more experience you gain. Nothing to take away from the bowlers, it was a good wicket to bat on and the bowlers did a commendable job to restrict them, they were brilliant not only today but for the entire series,” he added.