NEW DELHI: Six months ago, Rishabh Pant faced heavy criticism from legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar, who had slammed him as “stupid, stupid, stupid” following a reckless dismissal during the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the MCG. Fast forward to the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Headingley, and Gavaskar’s tune has changed dramatically. After Pant’s stunning century, he called it “superb, superb, superb.”Pant’s 134 against England marked his seventh Test century, making him the Indian wicketkeeper with the most hundreds in the format, surpassing MS Dhoni’s tally of six. It was also Pant’s third Test hundred in England — a remarkable feat, as no other visiting wicketkeeper has scored more than one Test ton in the country.“It feels so good. I have worked on my weaknesses, and tried to recover from setbacks so that you can make a good comeback. I changed some of my mistakes through my hardwork and focus, as well as being disciplined towards my cricket. It gives me a lot of satisfaction and feels very exciting,” Pant told Pujara in a video posted on social media.Pant celebrated the century with a front handspring — a gesture he’s embraced since childhood.“I had three celebrations in mind – of an OK sign on the eye (which footballer Dele Alli does), another was ‘let bat do the talking’. Then I thought, I will quietly do the one I know well. I have been doing it from my childhood (handspring).”“I trained in gymnastics in school. I am very used to it since childhood. Even if you wake up me up in the middle of the night, I can do this. After the accident, I had to work harder for doing this. I worked on it and it’s now easy for me to do it,” said Pant in a chat with veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara ahead of Day 3.
Pant also shared his mindset in the moments leading up to the milestone, which he reached with a one-handed six off Shoaib Bashir over mid-wicket.“When (Shoaib) Bashir was bowling in the previous over, I thought I should get to the hundred. I didn’t want to play percentage cricket and take a risk. He was bowling well, so I respected it and took a single.”“In the next over when he came, I told him before ‘if you keep the field close-in, I will hit the big shot’. Luckily, I was batting on 99 and I was confident. The pressure was there, but I wanted to play on the merit of the ball.”Pant’s comeback ton comes on the heels of a mixed IPL 2025 season with Lucknow Super Giants, though he did end the campaign on a high with a century against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Reflecting on his preparation for the Test series, Pant explained the technical and mental adjustments he made.“In my mind, I wanted to cut down on a few shots (in preparation for Tests after IPL). I wanted to play in the V. If you have seen it, I haven’t played a lot of shots to balls that were bowled wide. I wanted to play straight and rest of it would be seen after. In my mind, the thought process is always to try read the bowler’s thinking – like what is he trying to do.”“Once an idea is made, the thought from me is to put the bowler under pressure as I can hit him out. So playing with the bowler’s mindset and trying to disturb him is important, as if you allow the bowler to hit the right areas, so he’s always on the top. So playing with that, and then coming back to your zone – this balancing act is just getting more refined – and I am enjoying this a lot.”On his improved defence and discipline at the crease, Pant added:“Mostly it’s about the area – if the ball is in a good area, I try not to do too much. Like if a bowler is in a good spell or is working on a set-up, its fine. But when the bowler is not in rhythm, then I try to capitalise on it towards my side. When a bowler is bowling well, I try to defend well against him or leave, as that’s the mindset.”