India vs South Africa, 2nd ODI: Rishabh Pant turning potential into all-format consistency | Cricket News – Times of India

Rishabh Pant‘s magnificent 71-ball 85 – his career-best score in ODIs, was the lone silver lining in a dark cloud for India as they went down by seven wickets to South Africa in the second ODI at the Boland Park in Paarl.
Soon after Pant’s power-packed innings – coming on the back of his fabulous hundred in the third Test at Cape Town – a meme which went viral sported a scene from South superstar Allu Arjun‘s recently-released blockbuster Pushpa, in which the hero says: “Main rukega nahin,” with a caption: Rishabh Pant in any situation, any format.

Indeed, Pant’s knock on Friday reflected the growth of a batsman who has been repeatedly criticized for his playing the wrong shot at the wrong time – the last time it happened was just a fortnight back in the second Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, when he was caught behind for a duck while trying to charge Kagiso Rabada off just the third ball he faced.
At that time, India’s new coach Rahul Dravid had spoken about having ‘conversations’ with Pant on his shot selection. Since then, the 24-year-old has bounced back well from a lean patch in style, stroking a superb, unbeaten 100 in the third Test at Cape Town – without which India would have lost even more badly – and then coming up with a crucial effort at Paarl.

The immense potential that the Delhi youngster showed with his classy hundreds with the bat in Tests, is finally translating into consistency as well. In an Indian batting line-up which is appearing feeble and lacking in energy, aggression and flair with Virat Kohli fighting his own demons, Pant is showing that he has the right ingredients to be the team’s mainstay in all the formats now. These days, it’s just he who makes the Indian batting look sexy, exciting and full of chutzpah.
While he has already established his class in Test cricket, his figures in ODIs – a format in which he struggled initially – are getting better and better. His scores in his last four ODI innings read: 77(40), 78(62), 16(22) & 85(71). Incidentally, it was Dravid’s 77 he beat while notching up the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper on South African soil in an ODI.
As per a tweet by TheCricketPanda, in his last 18 ODI innings, Pant has scored 630 runs – the most among those Indian batsmen who’ve played all their first 18 ODI innings outside the top3 batting positions.

In the second ODI, Pant started off on an edgy note, edging the first ball that he faced, which luckily fell in front of slip, as he came down the track to Keshav Maharaj. When he was batting on 3, Pant was involved in a horrible mix-up with skipper KL Rahul, which saw both batsmen at the same end. While he was fortunate to survive as Maharaj failed to collect the throw at the non-striker’s end, Pant did invite a glare from Rahul.
Pant, however, did well to put these glitches behind quickly, beginning his familiar ‘entertainment package,’ which included 10 fours and two sixes, by slog-sweeping Maharaj for a six over deep mid-wicket. With Rahul struggling to increase the pace, it was the left-hander who released India from the ‘choke’ applied by the South African spinners with his free-flowing strokeplay.
How dominant the dashing left-hander was in his 115-run partnership for the third wicket with Rahul can be gauged by the fact that when the stand reached 100, Pant’s contribution was a grand 74!
To reach the peak of his tremendous potential to the fullest, Pant still has some way to go, as was evident when he gifted away his wicket to Tabraiz Shamsi by holing out to wide long on, thereby losing the chance to score his maiden ODI hundred. The fact that he had played two dot balls prior to his dismissal played on his mind. “It could be a career-defining knock for him,” said former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar on air, praising Pant for showing restraint when India badly needed him to do so after losing Virat Kohli for a blob.
“The best part about his record is that his overseas record is superb. His three Test hundreds have come in England, Australia and South Africa. It speaks volumes about his batting ability. His innings today was also outstanding, and it came in difficult conditions. You can say that in all the formats, India is depending more on him than any other batsman. He’s become the mainstay of the batting. In the last game too, he was batting well, before he was stumped down the leg side,” former India wicketkeeper and chief selector Kiran More told TOI.
There are growing voices to make Pant the new Test captain after Kohli. That debate, though, can wait for now. At the moment, it’s best to just sit back and enjoy his batting.