Why Rishabh Pant’s one-handed shots have two sides: Rishabh Pant shone in his first national blues outing since November 2022, dominating the T20Is for India like never before. Despite playing as a warm-up against a diminished Bangladeshi attack, Pant displayed a free-flowing touch and even demonstrated a variety of his ramps and scoops in the sunny city of New York.
The local baseball-loving Americans may soon encounter the one-handed swat off Pant’s willow more frequently during India’s Group A matches in New York and Florida, as they feed off the special skill sets and jargon of T20 cricket. Even though Pant hit a one-handed six over long on on Saturday, his signature shot hasn’t performed well since his IPL 2024 comeback.
With one out of every 14 deliveries that Pant played in the IPL ending in either a one-hander or the bat slipping totally off his grasp, the likelihood of such an incident is rather significant.
To satisfy the curiosity of ardent cricket enthusiasts in the United States, a plethora of images featuring Pant from various perspectives showcasing this shot can be found online. There are intricate compilations of the left-hander’s skillful shot in various jerseys and forms across countries and situations at Edgbaston, Delhi, Ranchi, Dubai, and Kolkata.
The unique bottom hand—left for Pant—lies above the typical location of a regular top hand. A novice would quickly notice that all of the power is produced by the bottom hand, while the upper hand’s liberation provides focus and uniqueness.
In Test cricket, Pant was frequently launched in full force against attacks. He enjoyed the highs from the stroke until mid-2022, when his shotmaking started to show cracks.
The one-hander was found deficient in combination with his “falling” sweep/scoop shots to the on-side, where he tries a purposeful shuffle across the line of the stumps and somehow drags the ball behind the square of the wicket. Pant’s habits were highlighted when he made 46 of his 53 runs against Bangladesh through the on-side even during Saturday’s knock.
Pant captained India for the first time in five Twenty20 Internationals against South Africa, following a poor IPL 2022 season without a half-century. The South Africans attacked him with deliveries well beyond the off-stump, and he was dismissed four times in a row using the same tactic; his one-hander and short off-side range were not enough to withstand their unrelenting assault.
“He is unable to apply enough force to that. He needs to give up trying to go that far outside of the off-stump on an aerial. He was dismissed ten times (in the T20s in 2022). He was dismissed wide outside off-stump. Had he not gotten in touch with them, some of them would have been referred to as wide. He needs to reach out for it because he is so far away. After Pant’s terrible run, Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar would lament, “He will never get enough power on it.”
“Premeditated, predetermined”
Pant is a “predetermined, premeditated cricketer who decides quite often what he is going to do before the ball is bowled,” according to Gavaskar, who would add this two months later.
While sprinting for a T20 World Cup, Pant was unable to make apologies at that time. He was further removed from honing that one little part of his game after his accident and the 14-month hiatus that began in December 2022, as demonstrated by his IPL comeback.
It was unusual to witness cricket’s “Spidey” drop his bat up to 20 times in the previous two months. Even though big-hitters like MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle, and Shahid Afridi have used the shot in the past, their strong big-hitting style made it seem like a rarity, an occasional abruptness in the slog that eventually reaches the fence.
Pant, a modern anomaly, may have even carried the idea of demoralizing the opposing bowler with him when he saw the deliberate value in this shot.
Side-by-side affinities
This IPL, the southpaw from Delhi has demonstrated a stronger preference for strokes that go on the on-side, particularly behind the square of the wicket.
Pant scored 162 of his 340 runs during his previous stay in 2022, or 49% of his total, through the on-side, with 57 of those runs coming through the square leg and fine leg. That season, he scored 139 runs behind the square, accounting for 42.1% of his total runs.
Pant scored rather freely off the off-side, accounting for 178 runs, nearly 100 of which came through cover and long-off, despite missing out on several significant blows.
Pant’s run-making this year has been significantly influenced (65.4%) to the on-side (292 of 446). This has resulted in almost half (154) of the on-side runs coming from behind square, which has been one of his most productive scoring areas this season.
Only 16 runs were scored via long-off during the whole IPL season, severely hindering Pant’s ability to score down the ground on the off-side. Gavaskar’s observation from 2022 that Pant still anticipates deliveries well outside the off-stump and manufactures strokes to the on-side provides one probable explanation for this.
The advantages? With the ability to pull, flick, and pick up strokes, Pant has completely destroyed most lines and lengths at the stumps or on the leg side. He has amassed 156 runs at a strike rate of 208, no dismissals, and a control rate above 75%.
The hook (37.50%), slog sweep (44.40%), on-side slog (16.70%), the sweep (54.50%), off-side slog (0), and late cut (66.70%), on the other hand, all necessitate power creation from outside the off-stump, where his control rate falls off a cliff. Eight dismissals have come from these strokes, as his usual falling sweeps and slogs have faltered from poor timing or balance.
Pant was dismissed four times from the 20 deliveries this season where he had lost his grip or bat, underscoring the disproportionate risk associated with the peculiarities.
In fact, the Delhi Capitals captain has been dismissed six times in 78 balls when delivering a half-volley or fuller delivery outside the off-stump, accumulating 98 runs.
Pant will face meticulous multinational attacks in the Americas, where it’s possible that they’ve already discovered the weakness. His total T20I stats, 987 runs at a strike rate of 126.37, also do not support fine reading. However, if India’s preferred goalie can get beyond this particular obstacle quickly in his comeback journey, he will be really satisfied.
