'When in trouble, call the spiderman' - Twitter in awe of Rishabh Pant's counterattacking ton at Edgbaston

Rishabh Pant has slammed his fifth Test ton on the opening day of the ongoing game against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The southpaw’s counterattacking innings has made sure that India is in a brilliant position with Ravindra Jadeja also going strong at the other end. The visitors were in trouble at one stage struggling at 98/5 and it seemed like the England pacers will restrict them to a meagre total in the first innings.

But Pant took the attack to the opposition bowlers and batted smartly to lead the team’s comeback. He came out to bat when India lost Hanuma Vihari with only 64 runs on the board and then saw Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer go back to the pavilion with England bossing the proceedings. This is when the youngster took control of the innings and first looked to rotate the strike.

He opened the shackles right away after left-arm spinner Jack Leach was introduced into the attack. The latter was coming off a 10-wicket haul in the previous game against New Zealand but Pant had no business playing him out. He stepped out to the Leach to deposit him for a six and a four in a single over and that started the carnage.

Rishabh Pant reverse slogged James Anderson too

It wasn’t a T20 kind of innings from Rishabh Pant but he grew in confidence amazingly as he spent more time in the middle. The left-hander even came down the ground to veteran James Anderson to smash him for a boundary on multiple occasions. The famous reverse slog also came out in the 48th over of the innings off the pacer albeit with little success. However, that didn’t deter Pant from going for his shots as he made sure England never had the measure of him and his partner Jadeja during the partnership.

He literall unleashed his best in the final session as runs continued to come thick and fast and Pant raced away into the 80s. After being away from strike for quite some time, the man targetted Leach yet again to get close to the century and this time, he smacked for a couple of fours by stepping out of his crease. It was some clean hitting from Rishabh Pant as the Edgbaston crowd was treated to some epic batting.

After smashing Leach, Pant got to his fifth Test ton in the very next over off Stuart Broad with a diving couple after which the crowd and the Indian dressing stood up to applaud a fantastic chanceless knock. He reached the three-figure mark in just 89 balls making the fastest by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests. On the way to his brilliant century, Rishabh Pant also became the youngest player in the history of Test cricket to cross the 2000-run mark.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Blockbuster Batting @RishabhPant17 👏 #ENGvIND

— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) July 1, 2022

Top knock 100 @RishabhPant17 when team needed the most .. keep it up #INDvsENG

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) July 1, 2022

Simply awesome @RishabhPant17!
Well done.👏

Crucial innings by @imjadeja. Rotated the strike well and played some amazing shots.#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/9ACuhVlGTT

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 1, 2022

Fire hai 🔥🔥 @RishabhPant17 pic.twitter.com/oEHlQtPLTT

— Kuldeep yadav (@imkuldeep18) July 1, 2022

When in trouble, call the Spiderman!

What a fierce knock by rockstar Rishabh Pant against a quality english bowling unit under such circumstances. Best way to fight a fire is to fight it with the fire. #EngVsInd pic.twitter.com/q2mPeqTWyi

— Amit Mishra (@MishiAmit) July 1, 2022

Rishab pant – Test cricket 🏏 maverick !! Strongly feel to emulate his test performance, he MUST open in white ball cricket . Exactly what the great Adam gilchrist did for Australia . Could be a game changing options for 🇮🇳 #INDvsENG

— Shreevats goswami (@shreevats1) July 1, 2022

What a masterclass from @RishabhPant17. Simply outstanding! Good hand from Jadeja as well. This partnership is working wonders for India after being in a precarious situation earlier! #INDvsENG

— Abhinav Mukund (@mukundabhinav) July 1, 2022

👖 shows that self-belief can make you a game-changer #eitbaarkhudpe #ENGvsIND

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) July 1, 2022

Super stuff @RishabhPant17 👏🏽👏🏽 Easily the best WK batter in Tests right now 👊🏽 #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/Ue7CqWPtBJ

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) July 1, 2022

Phenomenal from Rishabh Pant. Simply outstanding. Fabulous partnership with Jadeja to given they were 98-5.

— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) July 1, 2022

Rishabh Pant and his Punch in test cricket continues. Call him a super star for a reason!

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) July 1, 2022