Boria Majumdar in Leeds
It was as if Farokh Engineer was waiting for the call. The moment Rishabh Pant scored the hundred, I dialled Engineer, for I was certain he would be celebrating.
“I was playing bridge and watching Rishabh,” said Engineer unable to contain his excitement. “Absolutely incredible innings this was. I enjoyed every minute of it.”
“How many hundreds has got?” he asked me. “Must be 12-13?” Even before I could answer that he now had eight in Tests, Engineer had started again, “This is the age of batsman-wicketkeepers, and as a batter-keeper, Rishabh Pant is undoubtedly the best India has ever seen. Someone who has scored all these hundreds in overseas conditions has to be a very special player. I know him well, and have always felt he had the talent to make it count for India.”
When I mentioned to him that Pant was the first Indian keeper to score hundreds in both innings of a Test match and only the second wicketkeeper in history [after Andy Flower], Engineer couldn’t control his excitement. “It could well be this isn’t the only time,” he told me. “You can see he has the special talent. Look at the shots he plays. They are breathtaking. He can flatten the opposition and set games up. Yes, he will give you a chance, but that’s how he bats. That he held himself back is something I was very pleased with at the start of his innings. You can’t make a mistake and give it away. Good for him and India that he managed to do so.”
Could India win from here, I asked him.
“Why not?” said Engineer, whose highest score in England (87) was also made at Headingley, back in 1967. “If there is some support for Jasprit [Bumrah], then India surely has a chance. You have a clear upper hand, you have a lead of [nearly] 400 runs, you should try and push home the advantage. The bowlers should all look at this as a huge opportunity to do something special for the team. You don’t always get a chance like this against England in England. Now that you have it, you should try and make the most of it.
“I think, had India played Kuldeep [Yadav] here instead of Shardul [Thakur], they’d have that extra little cushion in bowling. He is a wicket-taker and would have helped the ever-brilliant Jasprit. But nonetheless, go India and beat the English in their own backyard!”
As we were about to end the conversation, Pant was dismissed. All of Headingley stood up for the young man. Engineer too was not far behind. “After what he has been through, and all the questions that life has asked of him, this is miraculous,” he said. “All I have is admiration for the young man.”