India has been all over England as play resumed on the fourth day of the second Test. After a stammer on the third day that saw the visitors losing three early wickets while chasing a monumental 482 runs, it was Ashwin who struck the first blow on Day 4.
However, the first wicket of the day was a beauty for various reasons. Not only was it peach because of Ashwin’s lightning-fast reflex and presence of mind, but the agility displayed by Rishabh Pant behind the timbre was nothing short of marvelous.
Not only did the wicket-keeper collect the ball in sumptuous fashion, but he also managed to put in a diving effort and clipped the bails with a theatrical flourish to remove Daniel Lawrence who looked set last evening on 26.
Ideally, keeping on a spinning track is a hellish nightmare for any wicket-keeper and Pant has shown exceptional composure to help India collect a few crucial wickets. He also managed to pick up a couple of great catches in the first innings that saw the back of Ollie Pope and Jack Leach.
In the following innings where England continued struggling, Pant put in a scintillating essay behind the stumps that left the fans and the netizens in total awe of this bubbling rebel behind the stumps.
Despite Lawrence managing to regain his balance, Pant’s blitzkrieg with the gloves didn’t give him enough time to return to the crease.
Twitter exploded as Pant rekindled thunderous memories of Dhoni dancing behind the stumps and impacting stumpings left and right that left the batsmen dazed and confused.
https://twitter.com/im_arjun92/status/1361540486037577728
https://twitter.com/ParthKakkar5/status/1361538418165964800
Aussie foe pulls off wild ‘nutmeg’ stumping amid English surrenderhttps://t.co/dg1LpWZ5uB
— 1STOPSP0RT (@1STOPSP0RT) February 16, 2021
What an stumping by Rishabh Pant. Brilliant work by Rishabh Pant. Now he is doing very Best in every departments, Batting and stumping. #INDvsENG
— CricketMAN2 (@man4_cricket) February 16, 2021
Rishabh Pant shows Ben Foakes is not the only outstanding keeper in this Test. That man Ravi Ashwin strikes immediately on the fourth day and that’s a shame for Dan Lawrence who was pro-active in this second innings. An excellent stumping and England are 66-4
— Paul Newman (@Paul_NewmanDM) February 16, 2021
Ash anna ?
Rishabh Pant stumping ??
— ℭʜᴀɪᴛʜᴜ ℜᴇᴅᴅʏ (@chaithu_reddy18) February 16, 2021
With those superb catches in the first innings and this excellent stumping of Root, has Rishabh Pant ended Wriddhiman Saha’s Test career? #INDvsENG #INDvENG
— Vishal Dikshit (@Vishal1686) February 16, 2021
R Ashwin struck off his first ball of the day to send back Dan Lawrence with Rishabh Pant pulling off a brilliant stumping. pic.twitter.com/fJOZ9PvIlz
— Nadeem khan (@Nadeem2khan1) February 16, 2021
@sumanthraman Rishabh Pant completed a stumping successfully. Now can you praise him? Because you are very critical of his keeping
— Srijan (@ImSrijanG) February 16, 2021
Spider-Man Rishabh Pant what a stumping , 6 more to go ! #INDvENG
— Trojan_Horse (@Sampath0623) February 16, 2021