For at least the first 150 years of its history, cricket has been a very traditional game. There are certain methods, traditions, and logic everyone has had to follow at certain times to find success during their time.
Halfway through the 151st year, enters Rishab Pant and smacks just the second ball of his Test career at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, and then the game was never the same. Roughly at the same time on the other side of the planet, James Cipperly known by his ring name Orange Cassidy, made his debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Now Cassidy isn’t your everyday normal guy or maybe he is. While pro-wrestling has been all about larger-than-life characters and super athletic human specimens, Orange Cassidy a diminutive guy who wears denims in the ring, almost always keeps his hands in his pocket and moves slowly is nothing one would expect to see in the wrestling ring, kind of like Rishabh Pant.
Cipperly has explained his Orange Cassidy character as a giant middle finger to the traditional methods and ways of pro-wrestling inspired by Paul Rudd’s character from Wet Hot American Summer which is exactly what Pant is. An abomination of balance while batting and very little adherence to the traditional things that a batter does, sometimes rather deliberately falling off balance to create something out of nothing.
Joe Root plays the reverse scoop really well, Harry Brook is very good with the normal scoop, and Ben Duckett with his sweep but Pant in all by himself can play each of these strokes plus a fine sweep to add to it and a flick off the stump without even shuffling to the offside. His batting is a challenge to every attritional and normal.
Coincidentally, Tony Khan, the owner of AEW has attested to how popular Cassidy is with their audience and Warner Bros, making him a huge draw as a character despite him looking nothing like a traditional big draw and doing weird things like debating Chris Jericho on climate change in the middle of the ring.
Rishabh Pant is all the same. Flicking a delivery on the off-stump, reverse scooping a 148 delivery by Jofra Archer, charging James Anderson at Edgbaston, or ripping Nathan Lyon apart at his home turf of SCG. You can’t prepare for such a threat because he has no pattern, he has no respect for traditions or any qualms about respecting the big names which is exactly what makes him an incredible outlier as a cricketer and a batter.
Despite India losing the first Test to New Zealand, one thing is for sure. New Zealand is going to have to tackle a Rishab Pant-sized headache for 2 more Tests.
About the Author: Aman Patel, A long-term viewer and student of the game. Specialises in cricket from the 2000s.