Pant battles it out with a broken foot, unbroken spirit

The notifications dropping in your phone in the morning, claiming Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the series, weren't entirely untrue. He was, but not without giving this series a parting shot, a final dance.

- Somshuvra Laha

The odds of it alone were huge since it’s anatomically difficult to bat on one good leg. A toe fracture can be numbed with injections and sedatives but that foot still has to be slipped into a cricket boot before walking out to afield.

We are talking about a lot of discomfort, if not acute pain if the sedatives wear off. But Pant has survived a near-fatal motor accident, so the spectre of this pain probably didn’t bog him. He was ready for the dance.

So as Pant emerged from the dressing room and slowly walked down the stairs, a shocked Old Trafford stood up in awe and applauded. Six down for 314, there was still a lot to play for but India were probably not aware how to go about it. With Pant, it's usually cue for uncoordinated mayhem.

But even Pant probably didn’t know what he could or couldn't attempt. With that toe out of action, the reverse ramp that got him here in the first place was out of question.

And probably a few more shots. But that’s not the point Pant was out to make.