Indian wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant was heard motivating his teammates to amp up from behind the wickets. Apart from his attacking batting to wicketkeeping reflexes, the 28-year-old makes his presence felt in the game with his encouraging words from behind the stumps. In the second Test against Sri Lanka, the wicketkeeper batter took the gloves after missing the first two days of action due to shoulder niggle, and right from the start, he was on the go. In a video doing rounds on social media, the wicketkeeper batter could be heard passing on a few words of encouragement to his teammates. 

During the second innings of Sri Lanka, Pant was heard telling his teammates to improve their body language. He also told them they need to gather themselves and no-one will come from outside to save them. “Body language uthani padegi bhaiyo. Bahar se koi nahi aayega. Dum lagao thodi thodi yaar. Energy create karo andar.” (We need to lift our body language, boys. No one from outside is going to come and do it for us. Show some fight, put in a little more effort and create some energy within the group.),” he told his teammates. 

Pant added, “Chalo chalo bhai, shoulder bahot drop ho gaya hai. Thoda mahol banana padega. C’mon, C’mon let’s go. (Come on, boys, come on. Our shoulders have dropped too much. We need to lift the atmosphere. Come on, come on, let’s go.).” 

Rishabh Pant Overtakes Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal to Make it to Top 10 Test Rankings

Rishabh Pant, who played a key knock of 63 runs off 89 balls in the second Test, is now the highest-ranked Indian batter in Test cricket. He has crossed Shubman Gill in the latest rankings updated by the ICC. Pant has risen six spots to make it to top ten and grab the seventh spot in the standings. Gill, on the other hand, has retained his spot at No. 7, Pant has been rewarded for his consistent performance in the longest format. 

In this season, the Rookie-born cricketer has scored 249 runs, including three fifties in three Tests. Only Devdutt Padikkal has more runs in Tests than Pant at 328, in three innings. Apart from Pant and Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal has slipped out of the top 10 in the rankings. He has dropped two spots to move to No. 11. Notably, the Indian opener is yet to hit a fifty this year in whites.