At a time when Rishabh Pant was making his way back to competitive cricket after a horrific car accident from December, 2022, there was a doubt whether the wicketkeeper-batter would be able to play like he used to do before. The southpaw scored 446 runs for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 while leading the franchise, played a vital part in India’s T20 World Cup triumph in Barbados a few months after before marking a mark in Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home. The southpaw scored a hundred on his Test return before continuing his same form against the Kiwis in the ongoing series.
Coming into the series after a dominating win over Bangladesh last month, Indian literally struggled against a quality New Zealand bowling attack. Not only did India lose the Tests in Bengaluru and Pune, Rohit Sharma’s men were all out for just 46 in the first innings of the first Test against the Kiwis. While Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failed miserably in the series, the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal shone with the bat occasionally.
Pant, for that matter outshone his teammates and has been India’s best batter against New Zealand. With 240-plus runs so far in six innings, Pant has been highly successful against spin, something which his seniors lacked in the series. On a Wankhede pitch where most batters have struggled to get going, Pant’s strike-rate in excess of 100 speaks volumes of his determination and grit.
Chasing 148 runs to win in the fourth inni.
