After scoring 86 runs in his first 5 innings, Rishabh Pant concluded the South Africa Test series with a fantastic hundred. If not for Pant’s magnificent efforts – 100 unbeaten runs out of the team’s 198 – in the second innings of the Cape Town Test, India would have been on the verge of a series loss by the end of Day 3.
After a thunderous first half of 2021 – that included two great knocks in Australia and a hundred at home versus England – Pant’s runs dried up for a while. He scored 45 runs across two innings in the WTC final against New Zealand and then managed 146 runs in 4 Tests in England.
Going into the third Test in Cape Town, Pant had faced heavy criticism for his loose, brain-fade shot in the second Test in Johannesburg. Critics had piled up on the 24-year-old for throwing away his wicket in the second Test.
However, the southpaw shut down the detractors with his giant-hearted, and crucial, century at the Newlands Stadium. He came in to bat at a difficult time on Day 3, when the score was 58/4, and India had lost two senior batters, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, early on.
With skipper Virat Kohli, Pant was involved in a 94-run stand that kept India afloat. In that 94-run partnership, Rishabh Pant scored 71 while 15 came from Kohli’s bat before the captain was dismissed.
The tailenders managed to hang on for a while just allowing Pant to reach his century but he didn’t get the chance to tee off for some quick runs. Pant’s knock was laced with 6 well-time boundaries and four spectacular sixes. The young wicket-keeper now has four Test tons to his name, three of which have come outside India.
Twitter erupted in joy for Pant. While opener Rohit Sharma, who missed the South Africa tour due to a hamstring injury, send out a cryptic tweet wherein he didn’t use any words and used just four emojis: two Zipper-mouth faces, a symbol “#” and a pant emoji. Perhaps, he is expressing that Rishabh Pant has silenced his critics with his memorable century.
Here, check out Rohit Sharma’s tweet:
?? #?
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) January 13, 2022
Meanwhile, India set South Africa a target of 212 runs, out of which the hosts have cleared 101 by stumps for the loss of openers, Aiden Markram and the defiant skipper Dean Elgar.
