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Rishabh Pant has been under the microscope for his batting approach after his disappointing run in the recent England vs India Test series continued on the first day of the fourth Test. India, however, found an unlikely hero in Shardul Thakur, whose blistering half-century allowed the visitors to crawl back into this Test match.
India were stuttering at 127-7 when Pant was baited into a trap by Chris Woakes. It was Thakur's 36-ball 57, that ensured India posted a respectable total of 191 runs on the board.
Thakur wrote his name in the history books with that knock, recording the second-fastest Test fifty for an Indian batsman, only second to Kapil Dev, and also the fastest Test half-century in England, ahead of Sir Ian Botham.
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In the latest edition of "Cricbuzz Chatter," former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan discussed India's batting frailties and also shed some light on how the side can't always depend on their bowlers to bail them out. Here's what he had to say:
We saw some different kind of batting, witnessing one of the fastest fifty's by Thakur. It was a proper counter-attacking knock from him. He did what we were expecting Pant would do. Brilliant counter attacking shots all over the ground. Courtesy of a really good knock from Thakur, India have ended the day on a high.
We saw in Headingley that after a batting collapse, the bowlers can't always rescue the team from dire situations. Today, thanks to Thakur's knock, India had something to bowl at and it helped the Indian bowlers to stay in the game.
Pant is trusted to play a counter attacking role - Zaheer Khan weighs in the wicketkeeper-batsman's approach
It seems like only yesterday that Pant was one of India's new-age heroes Down Under and could do no wrong. Despite averaging 39.45 in 25 Test matches, scoring three centuries and six half-centuries, people continue to ask questions about Pant's approach towards his batting.
Zaheer Khan weighed in on this debate, reminding everyone that Pant is just playing the role that the Indian side entrusted him with.
Pant has played just about 25 Test matches so far but his average is right up there. The way Pant has played and the role given to him, his approach is understandable. Things might not always go your way when you're counter attacking but we should remember that he's trusted to play that role. If the side is happy with him, there shouldn't be any issues around him.
Zaheer added that a few failures might always be around the corner but India have opted to back his ability to convert those counter attacking knocks into big ones and put his side into a winning position.
We have to accept that he might have a few failures but he's shown that when he plays a successful counter-attacking knock, he converts it into a big hundred. That's why his average is so good. He's scored big runs at the Oval before and hopefully can do that in the second innings.
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