Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels that Rishabh Pant made the sole choice to bat on Day 2 of the fourth Test match against England, even though he had fractured his right foot on Day 1. Manjrekar denied that either skipper Shubman Gill or head coach Gautam Gambhir would have urged Pant to bat and support India in the crucial match.
Pant hurt himself trying to reverse sweep a full-length delivery from Chris Woakes. He was carried off the field, clearly in pain, and then taken to a hospital for scans. His England tour essentially came to an end when reports indicated a six-week recovery break.
But on Day 2, when Shardul Thakur was dismissed in the first session, Pant came out to bat in a breathtaking display of tenacity. With 17 more runs added to his overnight 37, he reached his half-century as India surpassed 350 runs.
Manjrekar told JioHotStar in the lunch break that he thought Pant would bat as the last man when he saw him at the stadium, talking to Gambhir in the dressing room. However, he acknowledged that the 25-year-old's choice to enter next caught him off guard.
"When Pant was there with Gautam Gambhir, having a chat, we thought there was a chance that he might come in maybe at the end of the Innings, and the kind of demeanour that he had in the dressing room is such a hard man to read. Who would have thought that he would be coming into bat at the fall of the next wicket? He hasn't looked like he did before the injury, and Ben Stokes, the first ball that he bowled to him was a yorker. He was going for that front foot, ankle off stump. That's how cricket has to be. But now we have to cast our minds back to batters of certain pedigree and class who have hobbled onto the middle, have done some wondrous things in cricket. And don't rule that out with this guy, because this is the guy. You know, it is said that one day you can't move your feet, you can only bat with your bat. He's got such wonderful hand-eye coordination that he'll still be able to dominate. So England would be worried that it was shut down. Go back, you know, even though he looked really clearly in pain," he said.
Manjrekar even compared Pant's performance to that of the legendary Indian bowler Anil Kumble, who bowled against the West Indies in the Antigua Test in 2002 despite having a broken jaw. On Day 2 of the match, Mervyn Dillon's bouncer struck the former India captain in the jaw while he was batting.
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According to scans, he had a fracture and doctors recommended surgery right away. But Kumble came on to bowl with a bandaged face and even dismissed the great Brian Lara in a heroic act.
"Because today, you know, it doesn't matter whether you made the contribution now or you make it later. I think it'll come out in the second innings. What he's thinking is that I'm out for the next Test, and I don't know when I'm going to play for India next. So, might as well go out there and get things done. And this has been him on his own deciding I'm going to go out there, and he must have enjoyed his time until the injury, and when you do things like this, gestures like this with Anil Kumble with the jaw strapped up, those are moments in history that you remember 50 years from now," Manjrekar added.
The former India batsman ended by stating that he thought it was solely up to the batter and that he couldn't imagine anyone in the Indian dressing room asking Pant to bat. Additionally, Manjrekar said the move demonstrated Pant's intense passion for Test cricket.
"I can't imagine Gautam Gambhir or the captain pleading with him or sussing him out whether he would be going out there because that would help India. Because it's too much to ask, and I forgot about the finger injury because of this. He's got that as well to worry about. But he was very keen to play this test match, and he had the option of playing only as a batter because Jurel is there as an optional keeper, and KL Rahul is as well. So this shows how keen Pant is to turn up for India, and something about, I guess, Tests to get where it's being played, look at the amount of attention that you get as a cricketer when you play Test cricket in England. So this is where he wants to, you know, give his best. If you wonder why he hasn't quite made the same impact in white ball cricket, maybe this is the reason why, because he wants to leave a mark on this format more than the others."
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