Rishabh Pant's pain-defying fifty stirs Old Trafford

Rishabh Pant has done the audacious, the ridiculous, and the unforgettable often enough for it to no longer surprise. At Lord's last week, he batted with a damaged finger and nearly dragged India back with a gutsy 74 before a run-out cut him short. At the SCG in 2021, he played through a bruised elbow to score a match-saving 97.

But what he did in Manchester may have topped them all. Yesterday, he under-edged a reverse-sweep off a fast bowler onto his own foot, fracturing a bone, and still returned the next day to complete one of the most remarkable half-centuries in Test cricket.

India were 314 for 6 at 12:28 PM on Thursday (July 24) when the sixth wicket fell. It was a good total under heavy skies, the ball still hooping around corners. The match wasn't in crisis. And yet, Old Trafford rose in applause when Pant emerged from the pavilion, limping down the stairs toward the middle.

He hadn't arrived at the ground with the Indian team in the morning. He'd gone to the hospital to assess if he could bat. He came back wearing a moon boot and leaning on a crutch. Not long after, he was spotted in India whites. Surely, he wasn't thinking of resuming his knock on 37, one abruptly halted the previous day by searing pain and an immediate swelling that pointed at a fracture?

But Pant had made up his mind.

There was risk. The injury could worsen. Another blow could be far more serious. Sure enough, one delivery spat up awkwardly, bounced short of his boot, and thudded into his pad. Only then did he start shifting his front foot out of the way. Until then, he hadn't even bothered.

"I can say that his pain-bearing capacity is very high," said Shardul Thakur at stumps. "I think it was always our plan, there were quite a few efforts from the medical team, so yes, kudos to them, they could get Rishabh back onto the field, he could bat there for a while. Whatever he did, it's of course vital runs for the team. And yes, he was in a lot of pain. We've seen him do a lot of amazing things, and this was just another amazing thing that he did for the team today, I believe."

Pant couldn't put weight on his right leg. And yet he ran, or rather, hobbled, 14 singles – both for himself and his partner. England tried to make life harder: they started bowling wide, then Stokes tested him with inswingers tailing in dangerously close to the boot. Still, Pant hung in there. He picked up a slower ball from Archer and launched it over the rope, drawing level with Virender Sehwag for most sixes (90) in Tests by an Indian. Then came the punchiest moment of all: a check drive off Stokes, through extra cover for four to reach his fifty.

Eventually, it took a brute from Archer to end the innings, angled in from wide of the crease and straightening past Pant's outside edge to send the off-stump cartwheeling. At 2.08 PM, he began hobbling back to another rousing ovation from the crowd and pats on the back from Joe Root and Brydon Carse. He'd finished with 54 off 75 balls, 17 of those runs scored after the fracture. "I think what he showed today, the passion he showed for the team, it's unmatched," Thakur said.

"We've seen players bat with fractures before. I remember Graeme Smith batting with a broken arm. It's in these moments that a player's grit comes through. And I think Rishabh's positivity and his grit keep him away from all the pain."