Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra heaped praise on Rishabh Pant after a wicket-keeper bat scored a fine century against England on second day’s play at Leeds, Headingley on Saturday. The attacking left-hander scored a majestic knock of 134 runs off 178 balls to put India in a commanding position.
The southpaw scored a dozen fours and six sixes in his blistering knock for the visitors. Pant also added a gargantuan alliance of 209 runs with his captain Shubman Gill, who also scored an important knock of 147 runs.
Chopra highlighted that someone was questioning Pant’s place in India’s Test team after he had a poor IPL season with Lucknow Super Giants and also could not deliver against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series.
“Rishabh Pant has scored a century, and that too in his own style. He reached his hundred with a six, and then hit one more six. What Pant was doing against the second new ball towards the end of the first day’s play, only he can do that. There should be no doubt about that,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“There was a serious conversation during the IPL. We were on JioStar, and someone asked whether he should even be taken to England, considering his form. I said let’s keep these things separate as they are two different things,” he added.
The renowned commentator rated Pant as India’s best wicket-keeper bat in Test history.
“Since he was insisting a lot that the form isn’t there and the bat is not striking the ball, I said that if you check India’s Test history and be absolutely impartial, you would say that India haven’t produced a better wicketkeeper-batter than Rishabh Pant. He is the best already,” Chopra observed.
Chopra noted that we would always see Pant play in a similar aggressive style at the top level.
“He has scored centuries in Australia, England and South Africa, and one more here, reaching it with a six, and then you realize that he plays like this only. You will always see Rishabh Pant playing like this only,” he said.
Pant scored his seventh Test century and he would look to carry the same form in the rest of the series.
