‘Superb, superb, superb': Sunil Gavaskar lauds Rishabh Pant's century vs England, months after ‘stupid, stupid, stupid' tirade against him in Australia
A few months after Sunil Gavaskar slammed Rishabh Pant on air during the Border Gavaskar series shouting 'stupid, stupid, stupid' after the wicketkeeper-batter threw away his wicket against Australia, the Indian legend lauded Pant with shouts of 'superb, superb, superb' when he smashed his 7th Test century against England at Leeds on Saturday.
Pant had been at the receiving end of Gavaskar's anger during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 when, in the fourth Test of the series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), he went to attack a delivery, miscued his shot and gave a catch to third man. The dismissal angered the legendary India cricketer who was in the commentary booth, shouting 'stupid, stupid, stupid!'.
On Saturday, a visibly enthusiastic Gavaskar on commentary said, 'Yes, superb, superb, superb. Absolutely terrific batting by the young man.'
Another 𝐒 word from Sunny G…𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐁!🫡#SonySportsNetwork #GroundTumharaJeetHamari #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/w1SF4t7KRz
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) June 21, 2025
Pant on Saturday went past MS Dhoni for the most centuries by an Indian wicketkeeper in Test cricket, bringing up his seventh on the second day of the series opener against England.
Pant struck a six off the first ball of the 100th over of India's first innings, clearing the fence off Shoaib Bashir to bring up the milestone. It was his first century since September 2024 when he scored 109 against Bangladesh.
In 90 Tests, Dhoni had scored 4,876 runs with six tons and 33 fifties at an average of 38.09 and remains the highest run-scorer as an Indian wicketkeeper-batter in Tests.
Pant, who completed 3,000 runs during this innings of 134 off 178 balls (12×4; 6×6), also has 15 fifties in 44 Tests and averages nearly 44.
The third in this list is Wriddhiman Saha with two centuries, followed by Syed Kirmani and Farokh Engineer with two each. Nayan Mongia has also scored one century.
India ultimately were bowled out by England on 471 runs as Ben Stokes and Josh Tongue took 4 wickets apiece.
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