The tremendous batting performance from India’s wicketkeeper, who notched up his second test century against England and also being fifth in his career, has got any resemblance to England’s “method of madness”?

On Day 1 of the rescheduled fifth test match between India and England, at Edgbaston, India initially faced some initial hiccups. The top-order had completely lost its balance after England’s legendary pacer, James Anderson, and his fellow bowler, Matthew Potts, handed over some wickets initially.

India lost three wickets, Shubham Gill (17), Cheteshwar Pujara (13), and Hanuma Vihari (20) when Rishabh Pant entered the crease at 64/3 in 23rd over. He began to play big shots irrespective of the sensitive conditions posed with the team kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

After he began to play, India lost Virat Kohli (11) and Shreyas Iyer (15), the two major wickets as part of India’s top-order batting line-up is considered. However, Pant never restrained from showing aggressive nature and he continued to play some big cricketing shots.

He gained his speed after Ravindra Jadeja, who came after Iyer’s dismissal in 28th over, began to slowly settle himself down at the crease. They, together, made the bowlers suffer from on-side and off-side knocks, with some of them equally being out-of-the-box shots.

To make the English team realize hard situations, Pant began to play unorthodox shots which made the bowlers think and rethink the placement and seam of the ball.

At some point, the duo batted in a way that resembles the “method of madness” used by England during their last test match against New Zealand. England captain, Ben Stokes, used Jack Leach as one of the key spinners before the 24-year-old from New Delhi.

However, the southpaw maintained his aggressive posture throughout, ensuring his team reaches a challenging position. His needed century not only made his fellow teammates overjoy the achievement but also brought India coach, Rahul Dravid, to jump up and cheer for the occasion.

The silent coach was never very expressive in showcasing his emotions. However, Pant’s great knock moved the stoical man out of his guard, and cherish the moment with joy.

England’s nightmares were persistent even after Pant’s century, which was achieved in just 89 balls, breaking India’s former skipper MS Dhoni’s record. He kept attacking the bowlers by playing some big shots, sometimes, hitting one-handed sixes and reverse sweep shots against fast bowlers.

After scoring 146 runs, when Pant was just four runs away from reaching another milestone of one more half-century, he was caught by Joe Root back in the slip. The performance showcased by this young wicketkeeper sets India on a new mode of playing the game overseas.