The past year has proved to be the toughest phase of Rishabh Pant’s eventful career. After a second successive underwhelming IPL season, where he scored just 312 runs in 14 matches at 28.36, Pant lost the Lucknow Super Giants captaincy and returned to Delhi Capitals. His troubles extended beyond the IPL.He slipped out of India’s ODI plans, even missing out on the reserve wicketkeeper’s spot to Ishan Kishan, and lost Test vice-captaincy to KL Rahul.Yet, whenever Pant dons the whites, everything seems to change.For all his ups and downs in limited-overs cricket, Pant continues to be one of India’s most impactful Test cricketers. Before this Test, the 28-year-old had scored 3,557 runs in 50 Tests at an average of 43.37, with eight hundreds and 19 fifties. Few wicketkeeper-batters in world cricket can match that record.His love affair with Test cricket began fittingly on Aug 18, 2018, when he announced himself by smashing a six off England’s Adil Rashid with his second ball in Tests at Nottingham. Eight years to the day, Pant was at it again, becoming the first Indian and the fastest batter to hit 100 Test sixes while playing another innings that underlined why he is one of India’s biggest match-winners.The knock also revives an intriguing question: Can India really afford to leave Pant out of their plans for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia?His ODI numbers are modest, 871 runs in 31 matches at 33.50 with one century and five fifties, but Pant possesses the ability to change games in a session.“He’s a pure match-winner. If he has smashed 100 sixes in red-ball cricket, he can be dangerous in white-ball cricket too,” former India keeper and chief selector Kiran More told TOI.On Tuesday, Pant once again demonstrated that game-changing ability. With India searching for quick runs and momentum on Day Four of the rain-hit first Test at Galle, he blasted a 69-ball 66 that tilted the contest decisively in the visitors’ favour.Pant dominated a 54-run seventh-wicket stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who contributed just eight runs. His innings featured the audacity and flair that have become his trademark. The pick of his shots was a sensational charge down the track to Lahiru Kumara before slapping the ball over wide mid-off for six. It was a stroke few would attempt.His rapid 20th Test fifty helped India set Sri Lanka a daunting 372-run target and ensured the hosts remained under pressure.Teammate Devdutt Padikkal, who scored 167 in the first innings, summed up Pant’s value best. “It’s great entertainment. He is one of those batters you love to watch every day of the week. He really took the game to them and put them under pressure. That’s the ability he has. He can win games on his own. Everyone is really happy to have a player like him in our side,” he said.Pant’s second six off Kumara got him the 100th six.At a time when questions continue to surround his white-ball future, on Tuesday Pant served a reminder that genuine match-winners are rare. Every time doubts begin to surface, he finds a way to answer them. And if his Test exploits are any indication, leaving him out of India’s 2027 World Cup plans may prove far harder than it currently seems.
