Rishabh Pant returned to the middle on Day 2 of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo and immediately produced a shot that caused damage to the stadium roof.Pant, who had retired hurt on the opening day after being struck on his left arm, resumed his innings after Saransh Jain was dismissed early on Monday. He joined Dhruv Jurel as India looked to build a competitive first-innings total.Sri Lanka’s pacers continued to test Pant with short-pitched deliveries. The India batter took a couple of blows on his shoulder before the drinks break.But in the 90th over, Pant produced the shot of the innings.Lahiru Kumara bowled a short delivery down the leg side and Pant swivelled before pulling it over fine leg. The ball travelled around 95 metres, landed on the roof and then went out of bounds.Replays later showed that the ball had damaged a solar panel on the roof, leaving a large dent.The six added to Pant’s collection of big hits and came after he had returned to batting despite being retired hurt the previous day.At the time of reporting, Pant was batting on 63, having completed his 21st Test half-century. Jurel was also unbeaten after reaching his third Test fifty, with the pair helping India build towards a big first-innings total.Pant also moved past MS Dhoni in India’s record books during the innings. He became India’s highest run-scorer as a designated wicketkeeper in away or neutral Tests.Pant has crossed 2,500 runs in such Tests at an average of 41.68 at the time of reporting, moving past Dhoni’s tally of 2,496.Farokh Engineer is third on the list with 1,209 runs, followed by Syed Kirmani with 1,109 and Kiran More with 901.
