'There's method to his madness' - Nasser Hussain on Rishabh Pant's unique batting style

Former legendary cricketer Nasser Hussain was also in awe of the way Rishabh Pant plays and reckoned that coaching the latter must be a very difficult since he is a tough nut to crack

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'There's method to his madness' - Nasser Hussain on Rishabh Pant's unique batting style
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'There's method to his madness' - Nasser Hussain on Rishabh Pant's unique batting style (Source: Getty Images)

India star Rishabh Pant is a box office entertainer in red-ball cricket, regardless of the conditions he plays in - home or away. The unorthodox strokes and the uncanny game play he has is obviously risky, but that has earned him huge success over the years. In the ongoing Headingley Test against England, Pant scripted history by becoming the only Indian wicketkeeper-batter with twin centuries in a game.

Former legendary cricketer Nasser Hussain was also in awe of the way Rishabh Pant plays and reckoned that coaching the latter must be a very difficult since he is a tough nut to crack. According to Hussain, Pant can get into a zone that can wind the spectators, but he also has the ability to come back with some feisty knocks to put his team in the driver's seat.

"He (Rishabh Pant) must be an incredibly difficult bloke to coach because, as Sunil Gavaskar alluded to with his ‘stupid, stupid, stupid’ comment in Australia last winter, Pant will do things that absolutely wind you up, but he will also get hundreds — as he has done twice here," he wrote in his column for Daily Mail.

"There is method to his madness, but only he knows what it is, whether he is going to defend or attack, and because of that unique nature, I can see why it leads to opposition captains thinking outside the box," the former England captain added.

Pant scored 134 in the first innings of the first Test, and doubled it up in the next attempt, engaging in a crucial partnership for the sixth wicket with KL Rahul (137 off 247) that set the tone of the match for the visiting team. Pant played the aggressor as his partner, ensured there is balance in the approach to keep the match from both ends.

In the second innings, Pant smashed a brilliant 118 off just 140 balls, which got the English captain Ben Stokes to break his attacking field setting, which he has rarely done ever since the adaption of the Bazball approach. Nasser Hussain believes that Stokes was forced by Pant to commit a blunder or two to change the field setting and keeping no slips in place while the Haridwar-born batted. The kind of surface Headingley offers, there's always the chance of getting the outside edge, reckoned the 57-year-old.

"He (Stokes) removed his slips and put fielders back. It was one of the few times that I have seen Stokes go defensive. As I say, he did so because he clearly felt that he was more likely to get Pant caught in the deep. Even with Pant playing like he is, though, Headingley remains a caught-behind-the-wicket place — about 50 per cent of catches here are taken in the cordon," wrote Hussain.

After the stellar knocks from Rahul and Pant on Day 4 of the game, England were set a target of 371 to chase down. The hosts played the first six overs cautiously, scoring 21 runs without losing a wicket. They now need 350 more runs to win on the final day of the match, whereas, the Indians need 10 wickets. A draw is obviously an option, but both the teams are confident of extracting a result in their favour, which shall give the fans a run for their money on the final day coming up.

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