New Delhi [India], July 25 : Former Indian cricketer Ishant Sharma lauded wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant's head-storm as he came out to bat on the second day of the fourth Test of the ongoing five-match Test series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 at Old Trafford in Manchester.
Pant walked out to bat after the dismissal of Shardul Thakur for 41; the Manchester crowd rose to their feet and erupted in a massive cheer.
Pant smashed 54 runs off 75 balls, laced with three boundaries and two maximums.
On Pant's batting performance despite sustaining an injury to his right foot, Ishant told ANI, "This shows how mentally strong he is. If someone does not give up in life, then they can make a comeback in life."
Rishabh Pant continued to break records and win hearts, this time, with the bat in hand, even while limping.
The wicket-keeper-batter matched the legendary Virender Sehwag's record for the most sixes by an Indian in Test cricket. Both now have 90 sixes to their name in the longest format.
Pant, known for his fearless strokeplay, is now tied at the top with Sehwag, while India captain Rohit Sharma follows closely behind with 88 sixes. MS Dhoni has 78, and Ravindra Jadeja sits fifth on the list with 74 sixes.
If that wasn't enough, Pant also leapfrogged Rohit Sharma to become India's leading run-scorer in the World Test Championship (WTC) era. The southpaw now has 2731 runs from just 38 Test matches, which includes six centuries and sixteen fifties. Rohit, on the other hand, has 2719 WTC runs.
What makes Pant's achievement even more special is the context; he returned to bat on Thursday despite suffering a painful toe injury on Day 1 and still made a solid impact.
After Pant's fifty in Manchester in the fourth Test, now he has 14 fifty-plus scores, while Dhoni has thirteen fifties. The left-hander has six hundreds and eight fifties.
Further, Ishant Sharma spoke about the young Indian seamers, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep, and Anshul Kamboj, who are currently participating in the ongoing England tour, which is being played between England and India in the United Kingdom.
"There is no greater feeling than representing your country, performing well and making the team win," he added.
Speaking on Pickleball at the launch of Pickle Pros by Legaxy in collaboration with M3M, the fast bowler said, "Pickleball is an initiative of M3M foundation and the legacy is very good. This is a new sport. This sport is being picked up recently and it is a different sport. This sport is a smaller version of Lawn Tennis, which is played on the court and what is the best thing about it is that if you play any sports, team bonding can also be done. You can also play in the team environment of sports, plus you can play with the family. You can have a good time playing this sport, so this seems like the best thing about this sport."