There is a palpable tension every time Rishabh Pant comes out to bat. If you are sleepy, you become alert. If you were doing something else, you’ll stop and watch. If you are the opposition, you brace yourself because regardless of the match situation, he will back himself to take you on.
When Pant walked out to join Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle, India were in big trouble. England had scored 578 in their first innings and in reply, the hosts were tottering at 72/4 with Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane back in the dressing room.
The match situation — given how far behind the eight-ball India were — perhaps called for a little calm; for two batsmen to get stuck in and put on a partnership that would not just frustrate the England bowlers but also help play out time.
[Archive]: Rishabh Pant, the maddest of them all
But as usual, the book of conventional wisdom was thrown out of the window rather quickly by Pant. He defended the first three…