"If someone tells me this ninety is less than a hundred, that's not fair" - Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant's knock in the 1st Ind vs SL Test

Aakash Chopra has said that Rishabh Pant's 96-run knock in India's first innings of the Mohali Test against Sri Lanka was no less than a century.

Pant scored his runs off just 97 deliveries, smashing nine fours and four sixes. His blistering knock helped Team India close Day 1 on 357-6. While reviewing the day's proceedings in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra was effusive in his praise for Pant, saying:

"Rishabh Pant, this player is enriching cricket and unfortunately the obsession we have with milestones, he is not allowing us to enjoy that because he has been dismissed in the nineties for the fifth time. If someone tells me this ninety is less than a hundred, that's not fair."

The player-turned-commentator highlighted that India were in a slight spot of bother at one stage, explaining:

"India found themselves once again in little trouble. We lost our fourth wicket at 175. There is a partnership, and then another wicket falls from the other end, but this guy (Pant) is stellar."

Pant walked out to bat at No.5 at the score of 170-3. Hanuma Vihari was dismissed soon thereafter before Pant strung together partnerships of 53 and 104 runs with Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja, respectively.

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"We generally say football is played in two halves" - Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant's acceleration post his fifty

Rishabh Pant was particularly aggressive against Sri Lanka's spinners [P/C: BCCI]

Aakash Chopra also pointed out the contrast in the two halves of Pant's innings in Mohali on Friday, elaborating:

"We generally say that football is played in two halves, and cricket goes in one manner, but that was not the case. His first fifty came off 70-odd balls, and he covered the path from 50 to 90 in faster than run-a-ball."

The 44-year-old concluded by highlighting that Pant did not show any respect for the Sri Lankan spinners, saying:

"The sixes he hit, you saw his destructive side. It also reminds us that a bowler is as good as the respect you give him. He had made Keshav Maharaj look ordinary, and here also, he said that he won't give too much respect to the standard of spinners that were there. He didn't allow them to bowl."

Rishabh Pant scored his first 50 runs off 73 deliveries. His next 46 came off just 21 deliveries before he was castled by Suranga Lakmal.