Who said what - top 5 expert reactions to Rishabh Pant's 2nd innings hundred in ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test ft. Sanjay Manjrekar 

Team India wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant scripted history with his second-innings ton during the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. The left-handed batter scored 118 off 140 deliveries, and was involved in a crucial fourth-wicket partnership with KL Rahul on Day 4 of the thrilling contest.

He struggled initially at the crease, but after a word of caution from KL Rahul and a pep talk later, he grew into the contest. After settling down in the first session, he imploded after the Lunch Break as India got a move on to expand their precious lead.

The wicket-keeper was looking in sublime touch, but his innings came to an end as he holed out to the deep off Shoaib Bashir's bowling, triggering yet another Indian collapse.

On that note, let us take a look at five expert reactions to Rishabh Pant's 2nd innings hundred in ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test.

#1 Sanjay Manjrekar

The former India batter shone a light on the southpaw's defensive ability, highlighting how he absorbed pressure after his initial outrageous shots did not pay off. He compared the wicket-keeper to veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara, who was renowned for his ability to defend for long hours at No.3.

“Risabh 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, blocked 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,” said Manjrekar on Jiohotstar.

#2 Dinesh Karthik

The former India wicket-keeper remarked that Rishabh Pant is slowly making his way among the greatest glovesmen who have ever played the sport. He opined that the flamboyant Indian player is on the path to greatness, just like Australia's Adam Gilchrist was.

"I think at the start, he took on a lot more risk than what he needed to, and was talking to himself, and after that, there was a different Rishabh Pant. He calmed himself down. He can walk into this Indian team easily as a pure batter, no one will raise an eyelid," Karthik said. "He is a highly skilled player, he is walking into the realm of Adam Gilchrist of Australia and some of the greatest wicket-keepers. One thing, there are not many wicket-keepers batting at No.5 for their country. All wicket-keepers bat at No.7," he added.

#3 Ravi Shastri

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, during whose reign Rishabh Pant made his debut, defended the aggressive approach. He asserted that the flamboyant strokes are far from just a rush of blood, when in fact, those are highly calculative moves to put the opponent under pressure.

“People say Pant’s batting defies logic but there is an element of a sharp cricket brain behind it. He knows when to counterattack. It comes off on some occasions and on others it doesn’t, but if he had converted some of those seven dismissals in the 90s he would have had a double-digit number of Test hundreds,” Shastri said after Day 4 (via The Indian Express).

#4 Aakash Chopra

The former India opening batter termed that fans and pundits cannot comprehend Rishabh Pant's style of play, but he feels that it is irrelevant as long as he is producing results.

The wicket-keeper has been in sublime form since his return to the Test team after injury. He marked his return with a sublime hundred against Bangladesh in Chennai, and cemented his spot as the first-choice wicket-keeper back in an instant.

"Rishabh Pant, the guy is not understandable, but he stays in our hearts. The truth is that we all will often fail to understand his game, but we all hail when he bats like this and wins matches. From fail to hail, that's Rishabh Pant. From how to wow, and wow is happening a lot more times," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

#5 Nasser Hussain

The former England captain tried to make sense of Rishabh Pant's approach, and branded him as unpredictable due to his ability to switch gears in an instant. He also credited the player for making life difficult for the opposition captain, as they are unsure as to how to plan against him.

"He (Rishabh Pant) must be an incredibly difficult bloke to coach because, as Sunil Gavaskar alluded to with his ‘stupid, stupid, stupid’ comment in Australia last winter, Pant will do things that absolutely wind you up, but he will also get hundreds — as he has done twice here," Hussain wrote in his column for The Daily Mail. "There is method to his madness, but only he knows what it is, whether he is going to defend or attack, and because of that unique nature, I can see why it leads to opposition captains thinking outside the box," he added.

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Edited by Gokul Nair