England vs India: ‘Classical’ KL Rahul and ‘hip-hop’ Rishabh Pant put tourists in control with contrasting Headingley tons | Cricket News

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Calm and chaos.

Two hundred contrasting daily newspapers put India in the driving seat to win the first test against England – one marked by the KL Rahul in Zen, the other by the pants wacky Rishabh.

The former Window of India has turned Sky Sports Cricket Pundit Dinesh Karthik has perfectly summed up this Yin and Yang partnership when he called it classical music (Rahul) and hip-hop (pants).

The two genres were combined for a stand in the 195 fourth counter from 283 deliveries, with Rahul’s dream discs and the defensive features resolved allied to the pyrotechnics of falling padding pants, from six to a hand and slog-slogs. Each man playing his own beat.

Rahul is Orthodox in the best possible way and has scripted a “technical masterpiece”, to quote Ravi Shastri, while marking his ninth tonne of test, eighth far from home and third in England – this century of Leeds after efforts to the oval in 2018 and to the Lord in 2021.

He led – generally beautifully – the balls in his area and left or blocked those that were not. He also played late and just before his eyes when he fell behind the point. Classic and composed.

Sky Sports Cricket’s Nasser Hussain said about Rahul: “He’s so elegant. Even when a ball passes in front of the outside edge, that does not disconcert him. He gave control in the way of beating in English conditions.”

Rahul had done the same thing in the first rounds, to be fair, and looked ready for at least fifty before refreshing a journey and ahead of Brydon Carse to Joe Root at Slip. Anger has been engraved on his face.

But it was a microcosm of Rahul’s test career to date – not to be at the height of what he should have been in terms of figures.

The fact that it is only on average in the mid -1930s is amazing when you look at a full round like its efforts in Headingley.

Hope will now be that as a senior figure of the programming, after the pensions of Big Boys Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, this classic maestro can take off the numbers of the Gros-Garçon that his talent deserves.

The pants “ hip-hop ” gives England the blues

Now at hip-hop.

Pant had already stamped his authority on this test match with a first century of rating which was sealed with a six with a hand, celebrated with a perilous jump and presented a padded paddle – a blow on the side of the legs while falling to the ground.

But his ton in the second excavation – which only made him the second goalkeeper in the history of the test, after Andy Flower of Zimbabwe, to mark two centuries in the same game – was even more unorthodox. The first stages bordered by the farce.

“He came out incredibly frantic. Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton, referring to a fat edge on the sheets when Pant loaded Chris Woakes second ball plus a wild sliding off Carse.

Pant was also struck on the cushion playing a paddle that falls against Carse and tried Wallop Josh Tongue in orbit.

But the left -wing left -hander finally calmed down following a severe word and only really brought back into life once he had spent fifty – two Slogs to six of Shoaib Bashir in the space of three balls coming shortly after this stage.

We then saw blood blows at full speed and hacks with rush edges before another period quite while he was treating his way to three characters, although it was violently broken when Pant made four, six, four on the part -time spin of Joe Root before release Bashir in the depths.

The moment of a hundred was not marked with gymnastics this time, despite the legend of India, Sunil Gavaskar, urging the pants to play it. But it’s Rishabh for you. Never predictable.

‘You let Rishabh pant be rishabh pant’

India may not want a team of pants – which would give the head coach Gautam Gambir a coronary – but they must be delighted to have one.

Although he could be exasperating – seven times in the 90s in tests, which made Gavaskar pronounces the words “stupid, stupid, stupid” on the comments when he came across an idiotic scoop in Australia during the winter – he can be intoxicating, winning and intelligent.

Rahul said: “It is difficult for us to understand his state of mind but you let Rishabh pant be rishabh pant. There is obviously a method to his madness because it is on average 45

“There is a lot of reflection on the scandalous blows he plays. You just try to calm him down as much as possible between the balls.”

So there you have it. Classical and Hip-Hop, Bach and Biggie Smalls, duo to make sure that India now calls melody in this test, despite a second collapse of the lower order of the match.

The mood music is that with England 21-0 in a pursuit of 371, India will win the five day and that Jasprit Bumrah, the virtuoso of the Bowling attack, will play the main role.

But if tourists end up celebrating the victory in Leeds, Mr. Classical and Mr. Hip-Hop will also have been essential.

Look at the five day of the fifth test between England and India. Sky Sports Cricket And Main Sky Sports event From 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday (11 a.m. from the first ball) or Stream without contract.