Pant grits his teeth to keep India in hunt to level series

SOMETIMES the difference between winning and losing is decided by one player’s willingness to go through the pain barrier.

- Simon Mullock

At Old Trafford, an Indian force of nature called Rishabh Pant went above and beyond.

It remains to be seen whether the 17 agonising runs Pant added - to bring up his 18thTest half-century — will prove decisive in his side’s bid to take this compelling Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series to a deciding arm-wrestle at The Oval.

The belief had been India’s dashing vice-captain would not raise his bat in anger for a while, after trying to reverse-sweep Chris Woakes the previous afternoon only to have his right foot shattered for his temerity.