’99 out of 100 times, players like Pant succeed’: AB de Villiers praises India wicketkeeper’s fearless approach after twin tons vs England

Even though India lost the first Anderson-Tendulkar Test at Headingley in Leeds, the match will be a memorable one for the vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who scored centuries in each innings with his all-out attacking game. Pant looked vulnerable at times but was lucky to convert both his innings to tons, becoming only the second wicketkeeper batter in the history of Test cricket to score twin centuries in a Test.

South African batting great AB de Villiers lauded Pant’s heroics and backed the left-hander from the criticism of not playing according to the situation.

“He plays with extreme risk. It’s sometimes going to frustrate the living daylights out of you,” de Villiers said on his YouTube channel. “I can count 20 occasions where he could have gotten out for under 30 in both innings. But he didn’t – and that’s the most important thing. He is a player that takes it to the opposition, and 99 out of 100 times, those are your successful sportspeople, not only cricketers, it’s the guys that are willing to take it back to the opposition absorb a little bit and be prepared to sort of take it back,” he said about Pant.

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Ultra-aggressive style suits Pant

De Villiers believes Pant sometimes plays ultra-aggressive cricket, but that has been his style. “I think sometimes, he does pull the trigger a little early but that is his recipe, that is his blueprint and it has been working for him. You don’t score two hundreds in one match if you don’t know what you’re doing so all credit to him to sticking to his game.”

“A lot of people are giving him criticism, asking him, ‘can’t you see the match situation? Don’t you know what’s going on? Why don’t you read the game better?’ But look at his performances, you can never ever take that away from him and that is what most important is and that to me is a guy that’s happy in his own skin and who is prepared after failure to look in the mirror and to know, I’m the one who is going to answer the questions,” he added.

The 360-degree batter also admitted that Pant’s audacious shot selection left him perplexed at times. “I was on the couch, going, ‘Rishabh, what are you doing? It’s not the time and place for this.’ But look at the results. That’s all that matters. It’s a huge shame they couldn’t cross the line because he deserved to be the Man of the Match,” he said.

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