Under-fire wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant once again threw away a good start, falling for 40 on day one of the fifth and final Test against Australia, in Sydney.
Pant, who looked determined to slug it out this time, succumbed to his attacking instincts yet again as he miscued an attempted pull off a short delivery from pacer Scott Boland to be caught by Pat Cummins at mid-on.
Pant, in fact, played 97 balls, and copped multiple blows on his body while at the crease. He was struck on his biceps and helmet by Mitchell Starc, and then on his shoulder and groin by Cummins, and on the inner thigh by Boland.
He and Ravindra Jadeja had put on a crucial 48-run partnership for the fifth wicket. But, for all the bruises he endured, Pant will once again be criticised for playing a rash shot when Team India needed him to stay at the crease.
Rishabh Pant took a number of heavy hits to the body.#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/TdyJ1qhm9C
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 3, 2025
After his departure, in-form Nitish Kumar Reddy walked in, but was dismissed for a golden duck, poking at a rising delivery outside off from Boland. Jadeja too, departed soon after for 26, with Starc trapping him LBW.
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Earlier, India limped to 107 for 4 at tea on the opening day, with Virat Kohli once again falling to the outside-the-off-stump trap. Only 50 runs were scored off 25 overs in the second session.
Though regular skipper and out-of-form batter Rohit Sharma opted to rest, India's top order woes continued. KL Rahul (4) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) opened the innings but were dismissed within the first hour of play after stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah opted to bat under overcast conditions.
Kohli, too, did not last long despite a reprieve from Steve Smith. He hung around for 68 balls for 17 runs, before he poked at a delivery on the off-stump off Boland to be caught in the slips. But for his century in the second innings of the first Test in Perth, Kohli has been in woeful form in the last 20 innings, averaging only 17.57.
India are trailing 1-2 in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
