Rishabh Pant is unique in many ways, let him be that only: Ex-players after his somersault goes viral

LEEDS: Swashbuckling India batter Rishabh Pant’s perfect somersault after smashing a breathtaking century in the first Test against England has caught the fancy of his legion of fans, while former players felt the acrobatic act that has since gone viral was a statement of his “unique” Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said Pant probably had been doing gymnastics from a very young age.

“Nothing wrong in that. That’s him. Let him be. You know, he’s different. At a very young age, he did a lot of gymnastics,” said the cricketer-turned-commentator.

“Even if I might have tried it, I think I might have… (but) it would have been to go into the pool,” Shastri joked in a video posted by BCCI.Rishabh being Rishabh, he does something unique. He does it really well. I think it was unique. No one expected him to do that. I’ve never tried it. I’ll need a lot of practice because that is something if you haven’t tried, you can’t do it,” said India batter Cheteshwar Pujara.

Former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik said he was in awe of Pant, as the wicketkeeper-batter was made of a different stuff.

“Neither could I do the somersault like him, nor can I bat like him. I think on both fronts (keeping and batting) he has exceeded expectations. It’s quite an effort to dothat, actually. And he does it consistently,” said Karthik, himself a wicketkeeper-batter.

“When I was very young, my parents did make me participate in gymnastics and I did try and I was an utter failure at that. So, let’s just leave it there because he (Pant) is doing it so much nicer when he celebrates it,” added Karthik.

“I think I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. With pads on as well. Amazing,” said an