Rishabh Pant often keeps fans on the edge of their seats, eagerly anticipating the fireworks his batting can unleash. On Day 2 of India’s fourth Test against England, he made everyone rise to their feet in applause. In a remarkable display of courage, character, and grit, Pant walked out to bat at Old Trafford despite a fractured right foot, receiving a standing ovation.

He hobbled to the middle, limped between the wickets, and occasionally winced in pain, but he kept batting. Pant stayed out there for an hour, his gritty innings finally ended by a near-perfect delivery from Jofra Archer: angling in from around the wicket, pitched on the stumps, and seaming away to crash into them. He walked in with India at 314 for six and helped add 35 crucial runs before his dismissal. India eventually finished at 358 all out. Without Pant’s contribution, with fresher English bowlers and cloudy skies, 314 for six might well have ended up as 320 all out.

But Pant stood firm. This was going to be the most uncharacteristic innings of his international career. You can’t play falling-over sweeps on a broken foot. You can’t charge down the pitch. You can’t move around the crease. Yet on Thursday, 24 July, Pant proved he could still bat when stripped of all his usual weapons. He launched a mighty six off a slower ball from Archer, then punched Stokes to the fence with a shot that flew like a bullet, bringing up what was perhaps the gutsiest fifty of his career.

Pant’s high pain tolerance

Shardul Thakur, whose 41 played an important part in India’s innings too, revealed that Pant’s capacity to bear pain was so high that if he showed he was hurt, it could only mean that there was a serious injury. For anything else, Pant just gets on with it, shrugging pain off with a smile.

“Yes, he was in a lot of pain,” Shardul said after the day’s play. “We have seen him doing a lot of amazing things, and this was just another amazing thing that he did for the team today.

“I think what he showed today, thejazba (passion) he showed for the team, is unmatched,” Shardul added. “In these kinds of moments, it’s a player’s grit that comes to the fore. I think Rishabh’s positivity and grit kept the pain away! He has a high capacity to bear pain… So if he is in pain, you can understand that it’s quite a big injury, that’s why he’s in pain.”

Batting on a broken foot

Pant wasn’t on the team bus when they left for the ground, and hadn’t reached by the time the warm-ups started either. He was in the hospital, with the medical staff doing everything in their power to ensure he could first put his foot on the ground, and then walk on it. That was the first step towards batting.

However, it was only a baby step. Batting was still far away.

A batter relies on quick and agile footwork, Pant even more than most. A broken foot would mean going forward or back – the two basic tenets of batting – suddenly became a whole lot more challenging. Batters also rely on a stable base, again, Pant more than most, given his outrageous shot-making. If you can only put weight very gingerly on one leg, that stable base goes up in smoke. You can’t transfer your weight efficiently, and the mere fact of the injury can take away from the mental focus needed to face top-class bowling.

But while Pant may not have been able to rock back or dance forward, he had that steely determination of ‘over my dead’ body in his eyes. He could be broken, but that didn’t mean he was defeated. So he played from the crease, he used his quick eye and dextrous hands to meet the ball. He also showed the depths of his willpower and ability to dig deep when taking singles that were on offer.

No matter what happens in this Test or this series, the image of Pant limping to the crease and batting for an hour on a broken foot will remain the defining one.

Rishabh Pant may have hobbled to the middle, but he soared into history.