Rishabh Pant turned out to be the hero for the Indian cricket team on Sunday with a maiden ODI century against England in Manchester. Pant’s unbeaten 125 off 113 balls helped India recover from 72/4 to chase down a 260-run target in 42.1 overs. Pant and Hardik Pandya (71, 55 balls) shared a 133-run stand for the fifth wicket to help India register a five-wicket win and clinch the series with a 2-1 margin. Pant had been battling poor form in white-ball formats but rose to the task when needed the most.
After the great innings, former Indian cricket team player Yuvraj Singh posted a tweet which indicated that he might have had a long chat with wicketkeeper-batter Pant.
“Looks like the 45 minute conversation made sense!! Well played @RishabhPant17 that’s how you pace your ininings @hardikpandya7 great to watch #indiavseng,” Yuvraj wrote in his tweet.
Looks like the 45 minute conversation made sense !! Well played @RishabhPant17 that’s how you pace your ininings @hardikpandya7 great to watch #indiavseng
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) July 17, 2022
Pant, who was named the Man-of-the-Match, hoped he would remember his first ODI hundred for the rest of his life. “Hopefully I remember (this knock) for the rest of my life. I was focusing on one ball at a time when I was batting. When your team is under pressure and you bat like that .. something I aspire to do,” Pant, who came in at 25 for two, said.
Hardik spoke at length during a post-match press conference about his partnership with Pant and what he told the left-handed batter during the course of their 133-run stand.
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“I was just repeating the same thing over and over again, it was important that we do not take any risks. The kind of talent Rishabh has and the kind of talent I have, without risks we can score runs. It was about not losing any wicket, there was just one way through which England could have come back that was if we lost wickets in a cluster. I was repeating the same thing, to build a partnership and bring the match close,” said Hardik.
“I told Rishabh that close the match first and then you can enjoy. He got a bit stuck when he came in and, in the end, he started playing his shots. And everyone knows when Rishabh starts playing his shots, you just sit back and let him do this own thing,” he added.
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