Rishabh Pant can actually bat like Cheteshwar Pujara: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar feels Rishabh Pant can actually bat like Cheteshwar Pujara for an hour or two when required for the team. Interestingly, Pant was seen curbing his attacking instincts on Day 4 and played a defensive knock for a brief period of time.

Though Pant was seen playing aggressive shots at the start of his second innings in the Leeds Test, he later turned into the defensive mode as they lost their captain Shubman Gill early on Day 4. Manjrekar hailed Pant as a great cricketing mind, for having both attacking and defensive mindsets.

“Rishabh Pant is a great cricketing mind, so he got obsessed with the strong wind and he was trying to play everything there. He wasn't quite convincing in the way he did it, so he decided enough of it and after that he went the other extreme where it was all block, block, block with a straight bat and not one shot did he play in that fashion. So this is what you get with. This is a guy who can actually bat like a Pujara for an hour or two,” Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.

While Pant smacked 134 runs in 178 balls with 12 fours and six sixes in the first innings, he went on to smash another century - 118 runs in 140 balls with 15 fours and three sixes in the second innings. 

Interestingly, Pant became the first Indian batter to score centuries in both innings of a Test in England. Also, he is only the second keeper-batter after Andy Flower to score twin centuries in England.

In the ongoing Leeds Test, Pant has accumulated 252 runs in both innings, the most by an Indian keeper-batter in a Test. He surpassed Budhi Kunderan’s 230 runs against England in Chennai in 1964.

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