Chennai crowd vociferously cheers Rishabh Pant as he scores maiden ODI half-century

Rishabh Pant has had his travails in the last year or so, especially in ODI and T20I cricket. On a plethora of instances, the southpaw has given good account of himself. But he hasn’t been able to utilize his potential to the extent he would have wished to. Even as the Uttarakhand-born made his T20I debut way back in 2017, he has also completed a year in the One Day format.

He has scored heavily for the Delhi franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL), playing a number of match-winning knocks under pressure. His short career for Team India has been plagued by inconsistencies, yet he has been persisted with. Pant has also got backing from head coach Ravi Shastri and skipper Virat Kohli. He is now playing the ODI series versus West Indies.

Rishabh Pant weaves magic

Prior to the 50-overs format, he couldn’t deliver in the T20Is, scoring only 51 runs. In the third T20I at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, he managed a duck. Moreover, he wasn’t up to the mark with the keeping gloves as well. However, Pant stepped up to the plate in the first ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. He got 71 off 69 with seven boundaries and a six.

The left-hander came to bat after Alzarri Joseph removed vice-captain Rohit Sharma with India’s score at 80/3 in 18.1 overs. Pant made a cautious start and started resurrecting the innings with Shreyas Iyer. As he got settled, he pressed the accelerator and got to his maiden ODI fifty off 49 balls. He was involved in a stand of 114 runs with Iyer that got India back into the game.

His knock was eventually cut short by opposition skipper Kieron Pollard. Rishabh Pant went for a pick-up shot off a slower delivery and ended up mistiming it. Shimron Hetmyer took the catch to complete the formalities. In the meantime, the Chennai crowd cheered their throats out for Pant.

Lately, he has had to bear the brunt of the crowd for his poor show. But this time around, the audience roared loudly in his favour. Earlier, Kohli said that the home crowd should cheer their home boy and motivate him. The captain will be delighted with the crowd’s behaviour.

Here is the video

Captain words became real @imVkohli said pant needs time to settle and he played today like that and crowd started cheering pant name

Finally Everyone is shouting Rishabh Pant

pic.twitter.com/yNwhbAdpQk

— Kingkohlifanclub🔥 (@Kingkohlifc18) December 15, 2019