'Hum iss ladke ko jaante hain' - Suryakumar Yadav lauds Rishabh Pant after record-breaking half-century against Sri Lanka

Rishabh Pant played an enterprising knock on Day 2 of the second Test between India and Sri Lanka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru where he scored a quickfire 50 runs off just 31 deliveries. While the splendid knock was enjoyed by one and all, Suryakumar Yadav came forward and gave him a special mention.

During his sensational innings, Pant also broke the 40-year-old Test record held by the legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev as the southpaw registered his half-century from just 28 deliveries. The 1983 World Cup-winning skipper was  India’s fastest half-centurion in the longest format having scored 50 off 30 balls against arch-rivals Pakistan in 1982.

Suryakumar Yadav heaps special praise for Rishabh Pant

Taking to Twitter, Yadav lauded the Delhi cricketer’s brilliance on the 22 yards and wrote “Hum iss ladke ko jaante hain” (We know this boy).

The left-handed batter’s knock included seven boundaries and two maximums at a strike rate of 161.3. Apart from breaking Kapil Dev’s massive record, Pant also became the first player to score above 30 in both innings of a Test match at a strike rate of 150 or above. The wicketkeeper-batter had gone berserk in the first innings as well having scored 39 runs off 26 deliveries at an outstanding strike rate of 150.

While Pant’s whirlwind knocks in both innings did make a tremendous impact, Shreyas Iyer also made his presence felt, having scored two half-centuries. After agonisingly missing out on his century by eight runs in the first innings, the middle-order sensation scored 67 runs off 87 deliveries and played a key role in India posting a score of 303/9 on the board before declaring to set Sri Lanka a mammoth target of 447.

The Lankans in reply lost the wicket of opener Lahiru Thirimanne for a duck before skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis ensured that no further damage was done as they went to stumps at 28/1. The duo would be looking to reduce the team’s deficit as much as they can while the hosts would be gunning for nine wickets to win the Test match and the series.