By Trisha Ghosal in Manchester
We’ve all seen Rishabh Pant the entertainer. The daredevil. The audacious shot-maker who danced down to James Anderson and reverse-swept him like it was street cricket. We’ve called him fearless, gutsy, mad, and yes — at times, even reckless. That’s just the price Pant pays for batting like only he can.
But the man we saw today at Old Trafford… was something else entirely.
This wasn’t about flair. This wasn’t about sixes. This was about soul.
He walked out in pain — real, visible pain. A fractured toe that should’ve ruled him out for six weeks. The third Test at Lord’s had already left him with a finger injury. Gripping the bat hurt in the third Test. Running was a nightmare now with the fractured toe. Every ball seemed a question his body had no answer to.
And yet… he walked out.
Rishabh Pant batted not because he was told to. But because he knew his team needed him.
His 17 runs may not light up the scorecard. But those 17 were laced with something far rarer than talent — they were soaked in courage. Every step he took was a rebellion against pain. Every shot he played, a reminder that cricket isn’t just a game of bat and ball, but of heart and soul.
“I am so proud of Rishabh Pant,” said Deep Dasgupta when the writer was speaking to him at lunch. His words echoed what we all felt in that press box. Even the usually objective scribes put down their pens and applauded.
When he was dismissed, the entire Old Trafford crowd stood. Joe Root and Zak Crawley shook his hand. Mohammed Siraj couldn’t stop clapping — he patted Pant on the head like an elder brother would. And inside the press box, you could feel it too — the lump in the throat, the silence of respect.
And Rishabh? He walked back — limping, wincing — not from injury, but from the heartbreak of losing his wicket. Because that’s who he is. He doesn’t play for headlines. He plays for moments, for his team, for something bigger than himself.
After the Lord’s defeat, India needed a punch of belief. A spark. A reminder that fire still ran in their veins.
They found it not in a hundred or a five-wicket haul. They found it in 17 brave, stubborn, fighting runs.
Pant didn’t just walk out with a bat today. He walked out with his team on his back.
And the series, once slipping away, suddenly feels alive again.
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