NEW DELHI: Sunil Gavaskar and Rishabh Pant continued to deliver viral social media moments on Day 4 of the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Headingley on Monday. Pant, the dynamic left-hander, followed up his brilliant 134 in the first innings with a superb 118 in the second, becoming the first wicketkeeper-batter to score a century in both innings of a Test match.He also became the first Indian to achieve this rare feat in England.Pant’s iconic somersault celebration had already gone viral following his first-innings century. However, he chose not to repeat the flip after reaching his eighth Test ton in the second innings.As the cameras shifted to the stands, Sunil Gavaskar was seen gesturing to Pant, urging him to perform the somersault once more. In response, Pant signalled, “some other time.”The light-hearted exchange added another chapter to the growing on-field chemistry between Gavaskar and Pant. During the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Gavaskar had famously criticised Pant’s dismissal as “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid,” only to later praise his Headingley hundred as “Superb. Superb. Superb.”Pant walked in after Indian captain Shubman Gill was dismissed in the very first over of the day by Brydon Carse. The 27-year-old began in typically aggressive and unorthodox fashion, but quickly adapted to the challenging conditions.He played cautiously before lunch, scoring 31 off 59 balls, and then launched a calculated counterattack, particularly targeting spinner Shoaib Bashir. Pant brought up his century in 130 deliveries and was eventually dismissed for 118 by Joe Root.Former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta praised Pant’s temperament and adaptability, comparing him to India’s resilient former batter, Cheteshwar Pujara.
“The first phase of Pant’s innings was entertaining — he was trying to use the strong wind in his favour, playing those big shots. But he wasn’t quite convincing in the way he did it. Then he decided to switch gears completely. And, this is the beauty of Pant — his cricketing mind is sharp. He abandoned the aggressive shots, went all-out defense, and did not play a single aerial shot after that.“It reminded me of how versatile he is. This is the same guy who, early in his Test career, once got a 29-ball duck. He can bat like Pujara for an hour or two. We’ve seen him play at a strike rate of 30 for over an hour during hundreds that he has scored. It was fascinating to see the contrast — two very different versions of Rishabh Pant in one session,” said Deep on Jio Hotstar’s Match Centre Live.
