‘Can’t celebrate like Rishabh Pant, or bat like him’: Ex-India players react to viral handspring celebration

“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 former India cricketer and coach, who now sits in the commentary booth, while talking to BCCI’s social media team. He then joked: “Even if I might have tried it (the handspring), I think I might have… (but) it would have been to go into the pool.”

📸🤸‍♂️

Ending Day 2 with a 𝙋𝙖𝙣𝙩-𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘 celebration 🥳

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/CuzAEnBkyu#TeamIndia | #ENGvIND | @RishabhPant17 pic.twitter.com/LV0ipCyR1E

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 21, 2025

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India cricketer Pujara added: “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.”

India’s Rishabh Pant does a handspring to celebrate after scoring a century vs England.(AP)

Karthik, meanwhile, was astounded by both of Pant’s feats on Day 2 of the first India vs England Test, his swashbuckling century and the flamboyant celebration.

READ MORE: Why handspringing Rishabh Pant is a box-office superstar in traditional Leeds

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

Karthik then added: “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.”