It's a handspring, not a somersault – let's get our Rishabh Pant acrobatics pat

Indian Express

3 hours ago

It's not Wingardium Levio-saar. It's Wingardium Levio-sah. As pedantic and irritating as it may be to point out, what Spiderman Rishabh Pant does on the field is a handspring, not a somersault.
When Rishabh Pant took flight, and transported those watching into magical glee with his 'Headingley over heels' acrobatic celebrations, what the Indian wicketkeeper had pulled off was in gymnastics-speak, a Handspring. Not a somersault.
Simone Biles or Dipa Karmakar might be too sweet to say 'Duh', but India's most entertaining batsman-meets-keeper-meets-human ribbon, pulled off a grand celebration after his century. Except, it got mis-labelled a somersault. Somersaults technically are rolls with tucked in limbs on the floor or in the air.
To the gymnastics-leaning reader, a somersault is what Dipa does after pushing off the vaulting table, albeit aerially. What Pant did on the ground and what Biles or Karmakar do before launching into the vault is the Handspring. A somersault implies tucked limbs so hands don't hit the floor, while a Handspring demands that the force to take off aerially and flip in the air comes using hands as a spring off the floor.
Pant has wowed the English crowd not only because of his comeback from a near-fatal accident. But his falling paddle off Shoaib Bashir also points to ultra-agility where imbalanced strokes translate to no-look, one-hand-off-the-bat scoop pulled off while crumbling to the ground entertainingly. It's like the French describing a flake toppling off a croissant giving a coffee rush to those watching.
It's also not the first time the crowds guffawed, though he had a sliced six over long off two balls later. In the last series against England with Jonny Bairstow batting, Pant had fallen back while keeping, carrying a fast moving bounce and was on his back, with Virat Kohli in the slips. Next thing – he sprung up, arching with a foot stomp, like Hrithik Roshan or Tiger Shroff or India's finest vaulter & floor exercise medallist, Ashish Kumar.
Just last month, he ensured his 27 crore price tag in the IPL delivered a memorable ROI, when he celebrated a long due century with another handspring. The awestruck watching RCB wicketkeeper equivalent could only freeze in his tracks and fold his hands behind his back.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who coined the 'falling paddle', told Sky Sports: 'Outrageous. He plays the numbers game beautifully, plays the way he wants. He will block for a bit and then shift gears.' It's what flipped the 'stupid, stupid, stupid' to 'superb, superb, superb' as he melted Jonty Rhodes into ABdV in batting.
Shastri said Pant has his distinct USP, and apparently a UPS too.
'He has his own computer and only he knows how it works,' Shastri told Sky. 'That's his USP. That's what puts bowlers under pressure and makes him box office, a real entertainer and a match winner.'
Recovering from the accident and hitting elite cricket once more too brought glee to the tale. Shastri added to Sky: 'That's why there was that celebration. Thanking the man upstairs for giving him the opportunity. I think his recovery from that accident had a lot to do with the frame of his body and being mid-20s.' He recalled meeting him in hospital. 'When I saw him in hospital, it wasn't a pretty sight. Knee in a mess, scars all over the place, bruises all over the place.'
But with the Handspring – and perhaps cartwheels and somersaults to follow who knows – Rishabh Pant might be the greatest comeback to the top level, with centuries and falling paddle scoops. And his ability to make those watching, happy.