Rishabh Pant smashes India’s fastest fifty vs New Zealand; Ravi Shastri says ‘Players like Richards, Kapil, Sehwag…’

During his commentary stint, India’s former head coach Ravi Shastri, who has worked with Pant in the past, stated that Pant carries a reputation that the aforementioned former cricketers had when they came to bat.

“He was 1 overnight and he’s already outscored (Shubman) Gill. The thing with Pant is that he carries a certain reputation – of destroying bowling attacks – and when that is the case, bowlers think ‘if I get it even remotely wrong, he will smash me’. People of carried that kind of a reputation were Viv Richards, Kapil Dev Ian Botham.” Shastri said on-air.

“I took some names. Virender Sehwag too played that brand of cricket.”

The wicketkeeper-batter arrived at the crease at a precarious time, with the side reeling at 85/4 in the first innings; the side had lost three wickets within two overs when Pant came to bat, tasked with seeing off the opening’s day play without further casualties.

Pant power on Day 2

Pant played only one ball, taking a single off it to cap off the day, but unleashed his explosive best in the morning session on Day 2 at the Wankhede Stadium. The 26-year-old batter took the New Zealand bowlers to cleaners, becoming the fastest Indian to score a half-century against the side in Test history (36 deliveries). Pant targeted Ajaz Patel in particular, who had been threatening the Indian batting order during the final minutes of Day 1.

His aggressive batting ensured that the Kiwis were forced to remove Ajaz from the attack, who had conceded at more than 6 rpo, albeit with two wickets to show. While Shubman Gill adopted a more cautious approach, Pant took charge of the run-scoring, find boundaries with relative ease before falling on 60 off just 59 deliveries.