England vs India: ‘Classical’ KL Rahul and ‘hip-hop’ Rishabh Pant put tourists in control with contrasting Headingley tons | Cricket News

The calm and the chaos.

Two contrasting second-innings hundreds have put India in the driving seat to win the first Test against England – one scored by the zen-like KL Rahul, the other by the zany Rishabh Pant.

Former India wicketkeeper turned Sky Sports Cricket pundit Dinesh Karthik summed up this yin and yang partnership beautifully when he called it classical music (Rahul) and hip-hop (Pant).

The two genres combined for a fourth-wicket stand of 195 from 283 deliveries, with Rahul’s dreamy drives and resolute defensive strokes allied to Pant’s pyrotechnics of falling paddles, one-handed sixes and crunching slog-sweeps. Each man playing to his own beat.

Rahul is orthodox in the best possible way and scripted a “technical masterpiece”, to quote Ravi Shastri, while notching his ninth Test ton, eighth away from home and third in England – this Leeds century following efforts at The Oval in 2018 and Lord’s in 2021.

He drove – usually beautifully – the balls in his zone and left or blocked the ones that weren’t. He also played late and right under his eyes when easing behind point. Classical and composed.

Sky Sports Cricket’s Nasser Hussain said of Rahul: “He is so elegant. Even when a ball goes past the outside edge, it doesn’t faze him. He gave a masterclass in how to bat in English conditions.”

Rahul had done the same in the first innings, to be fair, and looked set for at least a fifty before he fluffed a drive and edged Brydon Carse to Joe Root at slip. The anger was etched all over his face.

But that was a microcosm of Rahul’s Test career to date – not quite living up to what it should have been numbers-wise.

The fact he only averages in the mid-30s is staggering when you watch a full-package innings like his effort at Headingley.

The hope now will be that as the senior figure in the line-up, after the retirements of big boys Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, this classical maestro can peel off the big-boy numbers his talent deserves.

He is a superb technician. He adheres to some classical, age-old principles – sideways on, balls of his feet back and forward, leaving the ball with great judgment, riding the ball when it comes off a steep bounce.

‘Hip-hop’ Pant gives England the blues

Now to the hip-hop.

Pant had already stamped his authority on this Test match with a first-innings century that was sealed with a one-handed six, celebrated with a somersault and featured a successful falling paddle – a flick over the leg-side while tumbling to the ground.

But his ton in the second dig – which made him only the second wicketkeeper-batter in Test history, after Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower, to score two centuries in the same game – was even more unorthodox. The early stages bordered on farce.

“He came out unbelievably frenetically. He played four or five shots and could have been out to any of them,” said Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton, referencing a fat edge over the slips when Pant charged Chris Woakes second ball plus a wild swipe off Carse.

Credit to Pant for making England think so differently with defensive fields. He is so difficult to bowl at as he will block and be calm and then suddenly charge. There is no rhyme or reason, it’s just when he decides it’s time. You have to hold your nerve as a bowler.

Pant was also hit on the pad playing a falling paddle against Carse and attempted to wallop Josh Tongue into orbit.

But the swashbuckling left-hander did eventually calm down following a stern word to himself and only really burst back into life once he had passed fifty – two slog-swept sixes off Shoaib Bashir within the space of three balls coming shortly after that milestone.

We then saw full-blooded thumps and top-edged hacks before another quite period as he milked his way to three figures, although that was violently snapped when Pant went four, six, four off Joe Root’s part-time off-spin before holing out off Bashir in the deep.

The hundred moment was not marked with gymnastics this time, despite India legend Sunil Gavaskar urging Pant to perform some. But that’s Rishabh for you. Never predictable.

‘You let Rishabh Pant be Rishabh Pant’

India might not want a team of Pants – that would give head coach Gautam Gambhir a coronary – but they must be ecstatic to have one.

While he can be infuriating – seven times out in the 90s in Tests, causing Gavaskar to utter the words “stupid, stupid, stupid” on commentary when he fell to a daft scoop in Australia over the winter – he can be intoxicating, match-winning and intelligent.

Rahul said: “It is hard for us to understand his mindset but you let Rishabh Pant be Rishabh Pant. There is obviously a method to his madness as he is averaging 45 in Test cricket

“There is a lot of thinking about the outrageous shots he plays. You just try to calm him down as much as possible between balls.”

So there you have it. Classical and hip-hop, Bach and Biggie Smalls, duetting to make sure India are now calling the tune in this Test, despite a second lower-order collapse of the match.

The mood music is that, with England 21-0 in a chase of 371, India will go on to win on day five and that Jasprit Bumrah, the virtuoso in the bowling attack, will play the leading role.

But if the tourists do end up celebrating victory in Leeds then Mr Classical and Mr Hip-Hop will also have been key.

Watch day five of the fifth Test between England and India live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10.15am on Tuesday (11am first ball) or stream with no contract.

England vs India Test series ☀️

All games at 11am UK and Ireland; all live on Sky Sports

• First Test: Friday June 20-Tuesday June 24 – Headingley
• Second Test: Wednesday July 2-Sunday July 6 – Edgbaston
• Third Test: Thursday July 10-Monday July 14 – Lord’s
• Fourth Test: Wednesday July 23-Sunday July 27 – Emirates Old Trafford
• Fifth Test: Thursday July 31-Monday August 4 – The Kia Oval