Rishabh Pant, renowned for blasting spinners in Test cricket, was seen approaching the match as if it was a short format game, during the opening Test match of the two-match Test series on Friday, March 4, at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, Chandigarh.
Against Sri Lanka, he smashed four sixes and nine boundaries. Pant hit an unbelievable six in the opening ball of the 76th over, followed by an unbelievable six and four in the second and third deliveries. Pant took a double on the 5th ball of the over after defending the 4th. The young wicketkeeper-batsman was not finished yet, as he hit another boundary on the penultimate delivery of Lasith Embuldeniya’s over to make it 22 runs.
Pant’s 96 marked India’s second half-century in the first innings, with Hanuma Viahri, the new No. 3 batsman, getting 58 off 128 balls. Likewise, Virat Kohli, who is playing his 100th Test match for India, is the nation’s 12th player to reach the milestone, finished with 45 from 76 balls.
Lasith Embuldeniya took two wickets for 107 runs in 28 overs, including Kohli’s dismissal.
India scored 357 runs on Day 1, with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin scoring 45 and 10 runs respectively.
