Twitter reactions on Rahane & Pant’s match-saving partnership: Twitter was exhilarated after Rahane and Pant strengthened India’s position.
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During the second day of the second Test of the ongoing West Indies’ tour of India at Hyderabad, India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant stitched an unbeaten 146-run partnership for the fifth wicket, rescuing India from a spot of bother.
Fast bowler Umesh Yadav’s career-best bowling figures of 26.4-3-88-6 had bundled out the opposition for 311 in 101.4 overs. The Indian openers in Lokesh Rahul and Prithvi Shaw, chiefly the latter, provided a swift start to India.
However, wickets at regular intervals had curtailed India to 162-4 in the 43rd over. With a deficit of 149 runs, India required a special effort from its lower middle-order in a bid to tighten their grip on the match.
It was at this point in time that Rahane and Pant joined hands to put India in a strong position by the end of the day. Albeit off the outside edge, Pant scored his first boundary on the second ball that he faced.
The 21-year old southpaw continued in his archetype fashion, scoring runs at a brisk rate. On the other hand, the coming on the back of an extended lean patch, Rahane took his time to eventually get things sorted out in the middle.
Pant’s innings saw him giving chances to the opposition but poor fielding made sure that he survived the day. With a four off Roston Chase on the penultimate delivery of the 58th over, the pair brought its 50-run partnership. By the 68th over, the duo had crossed both the 100-run partnership and their individual half-centuries.
Banking on his start, Pant was instrumental in decreasing the lead for India, something which perhaps also removed the pressure from Rahane, giving him the freedom to come out of his indifferent form. With India finishing the day on 308-4 in 81 overs, they are only three runs behind West Indies’ total of 311.
The team would be hoping that these two players make it big tomorrow morning for that would present a case for yet another dominating Indian victory in the series. Their partnership invited numerous reactions on social media platform Twitter. Watch some of them below:
