Rishabh Pant played one of the most fantastic knocks of his Test cricket career on Saturday. With the Indian top order once again unable to give the team a good start, Pant entered Day 2 of the fifth and final Test against Australia with his team reeling at 59 for 3 and went on to reach the fastest fifty by a batsman. visitor. on Australian soil. His contribution of 61 off 33 deliveries, combined with six fours and four sixes, earned him much praise from former Indian stars. Meanwhile, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, India’s 1983 World Cup winner, posted a funny tweet to praise the left-hander.
“What a blow! He just took the pants off the Aussies! #INDvsAUS,” Srikkanth wrote on X.
What a hit for pants! He just took the pants off the Aussies! #INDvsAUS
– Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) January 4, 2025
Pant completed his fifty off 29 balls with the help of a six against Mitchell Starc. He surpassed the previous 33-ball efforts of England’s John Brown (Melbourne 1895) and West Indies’ Roy Fredericks (Perth 1975). It was also the second-fastest half-century by an Indian batsman in a Test match.
The record for fastest half-century by an Indian batsman in a Test match also belongs to Pant, which he achieved in 28 balls against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru in 2022.
The keeper-batsman’s knock was finally put to an end by Australia captain Pat Cummins with an outside edge towards Alex Carey behind the stumps. Pant scored 61 off 33 balls studded with four sixes and six fours. He also played a crucial 46-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja to take India’s total into over three figures.
India ended the day on 141/6 and will hope that Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who remained unbeaten at stumps, add some valuable runs before the team comes to defend what looks to be a modest total in the making.
With the visitors leading the series 2-1, the Indian bowling attack will have to be in full swing in the final innings if India hopes to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
(With ANI inputs)
Topics mentioned in this article.
