Rishabh Pant was once again among India's finest batters in the game's longest format as India and Australia met on Friday for the opening day of the first Border Gavaskar Trophy at Perth. India made just 150 runs after the top-order collapsed before the Australian pace battery.
Pant, KL Rahul (26) and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) were the only two players who were intent on a pushback as the top-order were bamboozled by the extra bounce and movement that was aided by a fair grass covering. Indian innings didn't even last 50 overs and six Indian batters failed to cross the two-digit mark.
However, Pant (37 off 78 balls), whose audacious no-look six over backward square leg off Pat Cummins had everyone in awe, was once again in fine touch. His innings also managed three boundaries before being dismissed by Cummins.
Meanwhile, the fearless innings and the astounding sixer brought back into discussion Rishabh Pant's recovery from the horror car accident. Speaking on Fox Cricket with Australia legend Adam Gilchrist, former Indian coach Ravi Shastri recollected having met Pant at the hospital. Shastri called the 27-year-old's comeback to the cricket field a 'miracle'. At the hospital bed, Pant told the coach that when he made it out of the car after the crash, one of his legs was at a right angle and he had to push it back himself before being rushed to a hospital.
"It’s a miracle of sorts he can stand on two legs, let alone wicketkeeping and going out to bat because we love to see characters like him," Ravi Shastri told Gilchrist.
"Just to see him there makes you believe that miracles can happen because when I went to see him in hospital one month after that injury, he told me his right leg was at a right angle when he got out of the car and he had to push it back into a straight line before going to hospital... He’s a personality and Australian crowds are lucky to have him here playing," he added.
Rishabh Pant accident
In December 2022, Pant's BMW met with an accident near Roorkee, Uttarakhand. The car collided with a road divider on the Delhi-Dehradun Highway, on his way home. The vehicle caught fire but Pant managed to escape by breaking the window.
He was admitted initially to Saksham Hospital Multispecialty and Trauma Centre where he was treated for impact injuries.
"The injuries happened because he jumped out of car by breaking the window of his car as soon as it caught fire. As he landed on the side of the road on his rear, the skin was peeled off. But those are not burn injuries and not very serious," a BCCI statement had said.
After successfully completing his rehabilitation, Pant made a comeback in IPL 2024 before becoming India's first-choice wicketkeeper for the historic T20 World Cup campaign.
India vs Australia first Test
Australian seamers led by Josh Hazlewood who claimed four wickets, combined to bundle India out for 150 on Friday but the hosts fared even worse with the bat on day one of the first test, slumping to 67-7 at stumps in Perth.The home team reached the close trailing by 83 runs as India's pacemen also had a field day.
Stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah expertly exploited the seam-friendly conditions to register 4-17 in the final session.Bumrah earlier won the toss and boldly elected to bat. In an inexperienced lineup missing skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, it was left to Rishabh Pant (37) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) to breathe life into India's first innings after a slew of early wickets.
The morning started ominously when Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal departed for ducks and Hazlewood (4-29) had Virat Kohli, in the midst of a century-drought lasting 16 months, caught in the slips for five. Things went from bad to worse when an irritated KL Rahul (26) trudged off after the third umpire judged that he edged Mitchell Starc (2-14) to keeper Alex Carey as bat brushed pad. A scarcely believable six over fine leg by Pant, scooped from a Pat Cummins delivery outside off-stump, highlighted the Pant-Reddy resistance of 48 runs.
