Rishabh Pant showed real guts in the Manchester Test, batting with a fractured toe. After Chris Woakes’ yorker forced him to retire hurt the previous day, Pant came out to bat on day two and scored a brave fifty to help his team get to a decent score. He got praise from the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sanjay Manjrekar.
This isn’t the first time an Indian cricketer has played through pain for the team. Many will remember Anil Kumble bowling with a broken jaw against the West Indies in 2002. After being hit by a Mervyn Dillon bouncer, Kumble came back to bowl and even dismissed Brian Lara.
Mohinder Amarnath also showed similar grit on a 1983 tour of the West Indies. In the Barbados Test, he was hit in the mouth by a Malcolm Marshall bouncer and had to retire hurt, but he came back to score 80 and was Man of the Match, despite his team losing.
VVS Laxman batted with severe back pain in the 2010 Mohali Test against Australia to win the match and Hanuma Vihari batted for over two hours with a hamstring tear against the same team in the 2021 Sydney Test. Pant’s recent performance reminds us of these instances where Indian cricketers showed great courage under pressure.
