Rishabh Pant may have cracked the Test code but was yet to sparkle in limited-overs cricket with his ODI and T20I averages reading 32.50 and 23.15 respectively. Surprisingly, Rishabh Pant has only scored 715 runs in the 50-over format while in the T20Is he has 741 runs to his name. Rishabh Pant was yet to hit a ton in any form of white-ball cricket. This is in stark contrast to Rishabh Pant's performance in red-ball cricket, where he took his tally of runs to 2123 after having smashed his sixth Test hundred in the just-concluded match against England at Edgbaston. His average in the longest format of the sport has now risen to 43.32. However, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar reckons that if Rishabh Pant was tried as an opener in limited-overs cricket, things could change drastically.
Sunil Gavaskar even gave the example of Australian great Adam Gilchrist who used to bat in the middle order in Test cricket while opening in ODIs during his illustrious career for the Kangaroos.
Sunil Gavaskar said that he was sure about Rishabh Pant's success at the top order and he deserved a chance up there. So far in his brief career, Rishabh Pant has only batted in the lower middle-order in both ODIs and T20Is as he has been assigned the role of a finisher by the team management.
“Not a bad option at all. Look at what Adam Gilchrist did for Australia in white-ball cricket. He used to bat at No.6 or 7 in Test cricket but while opening in white-ball cricket he was destructive. Maybe someone like Rishabh Pant can be equally destructive, he will get that many more overs to play,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Sports Today.
“We have been talking about him as a finisher but then he comes in there, starts slamming the ball and straightaway gets out. Here, he will have the awareness that he doesn't have to go bang bang from the first ball. He will have a few deliveries to get used to the pace and movement. In England there will be a little more movement even with the white ball than anywhere else. That can actually work in India's favor,” the legendary cricketer added.
Even former India opener Wasim Jaffer supported Sunil Gavaskar's suggestion to make Rishabh Pant Rohit Sharma's opening partner in white-ball cricket.
“Indian think tank should think about opening with Rishabh Pant in T20Is. I think that's the spot where he can blossom,” Wasim Jaffer wrote on Twitter.
Rishabh Pant made history in the just-concluded fifth and final Test against England in Birmingham which his team lost by seven wickets on Tuesday.
While India failed to win their first series in England in 15 years as the hosts went on to claim a spectacular victory, thanks to unbeaten centuries from Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, Rishabh Pant’s performance stood out for the South Asian side.
En route to his knocks of 146 and 57 in the first and second innings, Rishabh Pant became just the second India wicketkeeper after Farokh Engineer to make a ton and half-century in the same Test.
During his fifty in the second innings, Rishabh Pant broke a 72-year-old record as well. With his scores of 146 and 57, he now holds the record for most runs scored by a visiting team wicketkeeper in a single Test match.
Previously, this record was held by West Indies great Clyde Walcott who had made 14 and 168* in a Test against England at Lord’s in 1950.
In 1973, Farokh Engineer became the first to achieve the feat when he slammed a century and a fifty in the same Test match against England in Mumbai. Farokh Engineer’s scores of 121 and 66 respectively came at the Brabourne Stadium against the Three Lions 49 years ago.
With his 89-ball century in the first innings, Rishabh Pant went past the legendary MS Dhoni to become the fastest India wicketkeeper batter to reach the three-figure mark in Test cricket. While Dhoni took 93 balls to complete his ton in 2005, Rishabh Pant needed only 89 deliveries to achieve the milestone.
Rishabh Pant also broke a long-standing Sachin Tendulkar record. The southpaw became the youngest Indian cricketer to hit 100 sixes in international cricket. Rishabh Pant attained the landmark by smashing England spinner Jack Leach out of the park during his brilliant knock on Friday.
Sachin Tendulkar was previously the youngest Indian to smash 100 sixes in international cricket, having achieved the feat as a 25-year-old. But Rishabh Pant’s heroics at Edgbaston helped him leapfrog the iconic cricketer as he reached the landmark at 24 years, 271 days.
Besides breaking the records of MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar, Rishabh Pant became the youngest wicketkeeper batter in the history of the longest format of the game to complete 2,000 runs as well.
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