Rishabh Pant, on Sunday (July 17), played one of the best knocks of his short international career so far to power India to a series win against England.
The wicketkeeper-batsman slammed an unbeaten century as India beat England by five wickets in the third and final ODI to seal the series 2-1. Prior to the ODIs, the Men in Blue had won the T20I series too with the same margin.
Asked to bat first, England recovered from 12 for 2 and then 74 for 4 to post a challenging total of 259. Skipper Jos Buttler top-scored for his side, scoring 60 while the likes of Jason Roy (41), Moeen Ali (34) and Craig Overton (32) also played crucial knocks.
Hardik Pandya was the pick of the bowlers for India, taking 4 for just 24 runs while Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj picked 3 and 2 wickets respectively.
India began their chase on a disastrous note. In-form Reece Topley once again caused all sorts of trouble for the visitors by dismissing Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli cheaply to leave India reeling at 38 for 3.
Suryakumar Yadav could not do much with the bat either as he departed for just 16. But from thereon, it was a one-way traffic as Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya revived India’s chase and eventually took the team past the finishing line.
The duo added 133 runs for the fifth wicket before Pandya departed for 71. But unlike Pandya, Pant stayed till the end and scored his maiden ODI ton. He remained unbeaten on 125 to guide India to a thrilling win.
Rishabh Pant’s special gesture for Ravi Shastri:
A brilliant scene was witnessed after the post-match presentation ceremony. After receiving a medal and a bottle of champagne for being the Man of the Match, Rishabh Pant was seen talking to former India coach Ravi Shastri, who is part of the commentary team for the host broadcaster, Sky Sports.
Pant hugged Shastri and was then seen talking to him. Few seconds later, Pant gifted his champagne bottle to Shastri much to everyone’s delight. The fans responded to the incident with claps and whistles.
Here is the viral video of the incident:
Pant offering his champagne to Ravi Shastri#INDvENG #OldTrafford #Pant #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/n9HguNNuID
— Tejesh R. Salian (@tejrsalian) July 17, 2022