Rishabh Pant suffered a heartbreak as he was dismissed on 96, just four runs short of his fifth Test century, during the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali on Friday. Pant, who took 72 balls to reach his fifty, accelerated his innings after the half-century and sent the visiting bowlers to the cleaners with a flurry of fours and sixes before being dismissed for 96 off 97 balls. Pant hit nine fours and four sixes in total.

Here is a video of Pant’s big hits after he completed his fifty:

Rishabh Pant

Journey from 50 runs in 75 balls to 94 runs in 90 balls.#INDvSL #VK100 #TeamIndia #RishabhPant #TejRan pic.twitter.com/7UsqtV55sH

— IQueenBee (@IQueenBee2) March 4, 2022

Meanwhile, India finished the opening day at a total of 357/6 in what is former captain Virat Kohli’s 100th Test match.

The 5000 odd spectators, who had come to watch Kohli perform on a grand stage, saw Pant make a mockery of an average Sri Lankan attack.

He was especially brutal when it came to going after left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya (28-2-107-2), who was taken for 22 in one over.

The deathly silence after Kohli’s shock exit for a well-made 45 was there for barely a second and half. Because at that point entered the stockily built 24-year-old from India’s engineering city of Roorkee and that was followed by a deafening roar which showed his popularity.

On Kohli’s day, he had completely over-shadowed the legend.

And those who came for Kohli, decided to stay back and savour Pant’s mayhem as he started with a signature lofted six off Embuldeniya over mid-wicket fence.

Embuldeniya, who must have felt emboldened when he got one to turn a shade away and tickle Kohli’s off-stump, didn’t know what hit him.

Promoted

In just over one and half session, Pant nearly reached his fourth hundred in Test cricket before veteran Suranga Lakmal (1/63), in his last international series, breached his defence.

(With PTI inputs)