It’s a huge shame Team India couldn’t cross the line, Rishabh Pant deserved to be the Player of the Match: AB de Villiers

Former South African batter and analyst AB de Villiers has heaped praise on the wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant for his exceptional twin centuries against England in the Leeds Test.

Notably, Pant emerged as the first Indian batter and second keeper-batter in the history of Test cricket to score twin centuries in England. However, his tons in both innings failed to take India over the winning line.

“I think sometimes, he does pull the trigger a little early but that is his recipe, that is his blueprint and it has been working for him. You don’t score two hundreds in one match if you don’t know what you’re doing so all credit to him for sticking to his game,” AB de Villiers said in his YouTube video.

“A lot of people are giving him criticism, asking him, ‘can’t you see the match situation? Don’t you know what’s going on? Why don’t you read the game better?’ But look at his performances, you can never ever take that away from him and that is what most important is and that to me is a guy that’s happy in his own skin and who is prepared after failure to look in the mirror and to know, I’m the one who is going to answer the questions,” he added.

Furthermore, Mr 360 also asserted that he feels nervous watching Pant’s aggressive batting style. Moreover, he felt sad for India ending on the losing side as Pant deserved to be the player of the match.

“Rishabh, what are you doing? It’s not the time and place for this.’ But look at the results. That’s all that matters. It’s a huge shame they couldn’t cross the line because he deserved to be the Man of the Match,” he concluded.

Team India will take on England in the second Test of the five-match series at Edgbaston in Birmingham, starting on Wednesday, July 2.

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