'Never seen such destruction by a keeper since Gilly' - Kris Srikkanth lauds Rishabh Pant's skills

Former India batsman Kris Srikkanth has lavished praise on Rishabh Pant after the latter’s terrific century in the ongoing fourth Test against England at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The youngster once again displayed his immense ability with the bat by coming up with one of the best knocks of his short international career so far.

India were reeling at 80 for 4 when Pant came out to bat and joined Rohit Sharma in the middle. With the team firmly on the backfoot, Pant decided against playing in his usual aggressive manner. He built small partnerships first with Rohit and then with Ravichandran Ashwin to steady the ship. The England bowlers, however, kept chipping away with wickets at regular intervals and reduced India to 146 for 6.

But in Washington Sundar, Pant got an able partner and the two shared an 113-run stand to bail India out of trouble. It was only after India got within touching distance of the England first innings score of 205, Pant opened up his arms and took England bowlers to the cleaners. Having scored his fifty off 82 balls, he needed just 33 more balls for his second fifty to reach his first Test century in India. The hard-hitting batsman reached his century in style by hitting Joe Root for a maximum.

Kris Srikkanth praises Rishabh Pant:

As soon as Rishabh Pant completed his century, the cricketing fraternity started praising him for his stunning knock. Srikkanth also took to Twitter to praise the youngster. Calling the century from Pant a terrific one, Srikkanth said that he hadn’t seen such hitting by a wicketkeeper since the time when the legendary Adam Gilchrist played.

“What a terrific century by @RishabhPant17 when Team India needed it the most! Never seen such destruction by a keeper since Gilly #ENGvIND #pant #TeamIndia,” Srikkanth said on Twitter.

What a terrific century by @RishabhPant17 when Team India needed it the most! Never seen such destruction by a keeper since Gilly #ENGvIND #pant #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/dPumYGxfkR

— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) March 5, 2021

Meanwhile, India have scored 365 in their first innings to take a big 160-run lead. After Pant was out for 101, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel put India in a commanding position by sharing a 106-run stand. Unfortunately, both the players failed to reach personal milestones with the bat. While Sundar ran out of partners and was stranded on 96, Axar was run-out for43.