India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant slammed a measured half-century on Day 1 of the first Test match against England at Headingley, Leeds.

Pant began his innings in typical fashion by going after Ben Stokes on just his second ball as he used his feet and hammered the England captain for a boundary straight down the ground. However, post that, he showed displayed restraint, scoring just 16 runs off his next 44 balls.

With a perfect blend of caution and aggression, the southpaw ended the day on 65* (102 balls), guiding the visitors to a dominating position along with skipper Shubman Gill.

Pant’s unbeaten knock was studded with six boundaries and two sixes. However, it was the last maximum that caught everyone’s attention.

In what was the final over of the day’s play, with India sitting pretty at 351/3, the swashbuckling left-hander danced down the track to a length delivery from Chris Woakes and dispatched it cleanly over deep square leg for six.

Pant’s daredevil act left Woakes stunned while Stokes smiled in disbelief. However, it was KL Rahul’s reaction that took the cake.

As Rishabh Pant climbed up the Headingley stairs to return unbeaten, Rahul, standing near the entrance of the dressing room, folded his hands and bowed towards the wicketkeeper-batter as a gesture of admiration.

Perhaps, the gesture was also a playful banter from Rahul as Pant refused to curb his aggressive instincts and yet returned unbeaten at the end of the day.

Here’s the video:

Coming to the match, India ended the opening day at 359/3. It was a memorable day for Gill, who slammed an unbeaten hundred (127* off 175) on his Test captaincy debut.

Earlier in the innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal (101 off 159) also hit a brilliant century to get the visitors off to a great start. Jaiswal added 91 runs for the opening wicket with KL Rahul, who returned with 42 off 78 balls.