Jun 23, 2025 08:14 PM IST
Sunil Gavaskar requested Rishabh Pant to pull off the somersault but the India keeper, who scored twin centuries in the Test match, had other plans.
The legacy of Rishabh Pant continues to grow as the wicketkeeper batter completed his twin century in the ongoing Headingley Test between India and England at Leeds. Pant, who smashed 134 in the first innings, became just the second keeper-batter after Zimbabwe great Andy Flower to score back-to-back hundreds in a Test match, when he scored his 8th Test ton. Pant fell for 118 but had done his job as India swelled their lead over England to 293 and counting. Pant also joins Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar, and only a select few to score four Test centuries in England. Not even Virat Kohli has that many.
Surprisingly though, there was no somersault celebration from Pant this time around. He did it the first time in the IPL 2025, when he smashed only his second century in the history of the league during Lucknow Super Giants’ last match of the season, and then brought it out again two days ago on Day 2 of the Headingley Test. So when Pant did not swing his body around, it caught a few by surprise, including the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. In fact, the Little Master requested Pant to pull it off, gesturing with his hands, but Pant refused to listen to Gavaskar, who, just 48 hours ago, replaced his infamous ‘stupid, stupid, stupid’ remark with ‘superb, superb, superb’.
“Maybe later,” said Sanjay Manjrekar on air.
Watch the video below:
Unstoppable Rishabh Pant
In the firing line for his flop show in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year – he had scored 255 runs from nine innings across five Tests – Pant has already scored 252, with four more matches left. Pant’s carnage, along with KL Rahul’s calm, ensured India push themselves to a stage from where they cannot lose the match. With an eye on setting England a huge total, they would rather fancy their chances of giving the hosts a scare when Jasprit Bumrah gets the ball in his hand.
