Rishabh Pant - the usual madness coupled with plenty of substance and responsibility

13th January 2022, Rishabh Pant, like he has often done in the past couple of years, strides into another precarious position. India, who began the day with a healthy 70-run lead, have seen Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara depart in quick succession.

The veterans, though, haven’t just been dismissed. They’ve been uprooted by the kind of snorters plenty felt would not materialize early on Day 3. The chatter, which was fueled by Shardul Thakur talking about the visitors wanting 300 to defend, suddenly revolves around getting as many runs as possible.

Virat Kohli has slipped into his Zen-mode again and is leaving deliveries outside off stump as if he was always meant to do so. In the process, though, that has cast more than a billion eyeballs on how Pant fares. Not just because that has been the case since he made his international bow, but also because of what happened at Johannesburg, days earlier.

Pant walked into a similarly tricky situation, although on that occasion, Pujara and Rahane did score a few runs. Nevertheless, the onus was on Pant to put the game well beyond South Africa and ensure that India would fashion a comfortable second-innings lead.

However, he was welcomed like a spoilt brat who had done everything humanly possible to disobey those he was playing against. The Proteas fielders told him that he would lose his cool and that he would indulge in an unnecessary shot.

Pant (if the muffled stump mic voices are to be believed), told Rassie van der Dussen to mind his own business. But then, he also decided to waltz down the track and have a hack across the line, meaning that when he was dismissed, countless heads were thrown back and the worst fears around the enigmatic wicket-keeper were relived again.

Unsurprisingly, many would’ve expected the Delhi Capitals skipper to bide his time, learn from what unraveled at the Wanderers and perhaps play a more sedate knock. So, when he decided to unfurl his strokes, it took a lot of people – including the South African cricketers, by surprise.

The hosts, rather understandably, didn’t try to attack Pant too much. Instead, they were content to hang the ball outside off stump, hoping that the wicket-keeper would be sucked into a rush of blood again. He didn’t though. And when he got his opportunity, he pounced on it like a viper does on his prey.

The initial influx of runs came against Kagiso Rabada, who lest we forget, accounted for the wicket-keeper at Johannesburg. He dug the ball in short but his former Delhi Capitals teammate was on hand to swat it over square leg. He dragged a delivery outside off stump and encountered a similar fate.

At no point during the over, had Pant completely broken out of his shell. He had bided his time, waited for his moment and then capitalized – traits that went amiss a week ago when he went searching for an opportunity that just wasn’t there.

As South Africa prepared themselves for an onslaught, though, Pant retreated into his bunker. He repeated the same process and when there was a scoring chance on offer, he ensured that he didn’t miss out.

Moments later, when everyone thought this was Pant reincarnated as a more flamboyant version of Kohli (who was still at the other end), he danced down the track and absolutely blasted Duanne Olivier past extra cover. After Lunch, he pummeled Keshav Maharaj out of the attack too, courtesy of a couple of massive sixes.

The Indian wicket-keeper showcased his full array of strokes

From a match perspective, perhaps those shots weren’t needed. In fact, when he just cleared Olivier at long on for his first six, he would’ve had his heart in his mouth. But this was a reminder that Pant had been to Cape Town and that he had left an imprint.

Rishabh Pant produced a stunning century at Cape Town

The most pleasing aspect, though, was that the wicket-keeper conjured such magic when it would’ve been easy to wait for something more prosaic. He could’ve easily let the game pass by and hope that Kohli would do something special at the other end. Yet, he didn’t.

He showcased that when everything clicks for Pant, he is as special as any cricketer the country has produced over the years. And that he has a method that mixes all the innate aggression with a bit of maturity.

In a nutshell, this was everything he had done during his remarkable series against Australia in 2020-21, and repeated against England in the home rubber that followed.

On those instances, he seemed to have the world at his feet. Before the 3rd Test at Cape Town, he was perhaps as far from being a certainty in the team as he has been in the past couple of years.

Any kind of knee-jerk reaction, especially when batters who are paid to score runs (Pujara and Rahane) were firing blanks, would’ve been unexpected. But it was still a conversation that had begun sneaking into Indian households – a conversation that revolved around whether the Delhi Capitals captain was responsible enough to double up as a batter for India in testing circumstances.

For anyone who just views the scorecard, they might think his ton at Newlands was another rendition where he tempts fate, provokes bowlers to dismiss him while he tries reverse ramps, tennis forehands, old-fashioned swats and lofted shots down the ground. But this essay was so much more than the scorecard could ever define.

There was responsibility, there were the usual manic Rishabh Pant strokes but above all, there was plenty of substance.

He scored at close to run-a-ball for a majority of his innings and still managed to stay resolute – something many batters aren’t capable of accomplishing. In the process, he illustrated a different side to his game – a side many felt existed after his heroics Down Under but one plenty dreaded would never come about after the catastrophe at the Wanderers.

Over the past few years, the phrase “Rishabh Pant is special” has been heard on many occasions. There haven’t been many, though, who’ve defended that notion through thick and think. After what happened at Cape Town, that might be on the verge of changing.

A week ago, people asked what the wicket-keeper was thinking against Rabada. Many even labelled him an overrated cricketer who didn’t have a method to his madness. All of those still hold true because that shot was, well, quite ordinary.

Pant is largely to blame for it too. Not just because he adopted that tack, but also because he can, as he showed at Cape Town, be so much more. So much so that you feel the only person who can stop him from attaining greatness is Pant himself.

That, by the way, is as high a compliment as any that exists in our sport. So it is a fair reflection of who Pant is and more importantly, what he can do.