(UTV | INDIA) – Flamboyant wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant smashed his maiden ODI century to help India beat England by 5 wickets in the third ODI at Old Trafford, Manchester. Pant played with maturity when India lost their start studded top order – Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli early in the 260 run chase.
The 24 year old remained unbeaten on 125 off 113 balls as his innings was laced with 16 fours and 2 sixes to get the job done in the series decider as India clinched the three-match ODI series 2-1.
With a sensational century, Pant has entered an elusive list of Indian wicketkeepers to slam a century outside Asia. He is the third Indian wicketkeeper to achieve the feat after Rahul Dravid and KL Rahul.
ODI Centuries by Designated Indian Wicketkeepers Outside Asia:
- Rahul Dravid 145 vs Sri Lanka at Taunton in 1999
- KL Rahul 112 vs New Zealand at Mount Maunganui in 2020
- Rishabh Pant 100* vs England at Manchester in 2022
Pant came out to bat at number 4 for India ahead of Suryakumar Yadav. He started his innings on a slow note to get settled in the middle. However, the quick wickets of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav put pressure on him.
The wicketkeeper batter handled it with a lot of maturity. He shared a 133-run stand alongside Hardik Pandya to revive India’s chase when England were in the driver’s seat. The duo took the game away from the hosts to script a memorable win for India.
With a wide array of strokes at their disposal, both Pant and Hardik went about their task in a professional manner, rarely looking in any sort of discomfort.
After Pandya’s departure on 71, Pant joined hands with Ravindra Jadeja and shared an unbeaten 55-run stand for the sixth wicket to get the job done. The wicketkeeper batter dominated the partnership as Jadeja remained not out on 7.
Pant reached his century in 106 balls and after that, he unleashed on David Willey to slam him for five back-to-back boundaries in an over to take India closer to winning. In the end, he played a reverse sweep off Joe Root’s first delivery of the match to finish things off in style.