By the end of the first session of the final day of Sydney Test between India and Australia, Indian batsman Rishabh Pant had a massive impact for his side and brought the Men in Blue within winning distance.

Until Sunday evening, the loss of opening batsmen Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill had demoralised Indian fans who were hoping to survive the stormy Australian bowling attack and settle for a draw.

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But an unexpected innings by Pant, who’d already suffered a dreadful injury to his left elbow in the first half of the match, made the Bleed Blue army believe again.

With 12 fours and three heroic sixes, Pant tuned into his white-ball cricketing fashion and had himself a staggering 97-run innings off 118 deliveries. In an attempt to cross the 100-run margin, Pant tried going for a boundary but ended up misjudging Nathan Lyon’s ball and gave up an easy catch to Pat Cummins on slip.

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Watching a disheartened Pant walk back towards the pavilion, fans obviously had to blame someone for his shortcomings and this time the target was Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle.

@bhogleharsha you so jinxed Rishab's 100! Heard you say at least 2-3 times on the commentary - I don't know if he ll get there or not.....
Just those things....

— Atharva Akolkar (@athrya_MH12cha) January 11, 2021

“@bhogleharsha you so jinxed Rishab's 100! Heard you say at least 2-3 times on the commentary - I don't know if he ll get there or not..... Just those things....” wrote Twitter user Atharva Akolkar.

Bhogle replied to the Pant fan in the most classy yet savage manner that he could.

Yes, Atharva, I have the power that the fictional superheroes do. I was making the point that while I didn't know if he would get a century, it would still be his best test innings. It isn't always easy when you are on a 3 second lag from the other two commentators! https://t.co/9N7h1yOiBQ

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 11, 2021

“Yes, Atharva, I have the power that the fictional superheroes do. I was making the point that while I didn't know if he would get a century, it would still be his best test innings. It isn't always easy when you are on a 3 second lag from the other two commentators!” he wrote on the social media platform.

Bhogle has previously talked about a “commentator’s curse” which supposedly brings bad luck to the cricketers who look to be in good form.

The one thing I cannot fathom is how many educated people fall for this jinxing and commentator's curse nonsense. If someone had that power you wouldn't need all these Marvel superhero movies.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 26, 2018

“The one thing I cannot fathom is how many educated people fall for this jinxing and commentator's curse nonsense. If someone had that power you wouldn't need all these Marvel superhero movies,” he’d tweeted back in 2018.

Bhogle has even held a poll on how many people believe in the “commentator’s curse” and the result was surprising.

Okay, here is a fun poll since so many of you talk about it. Do you believe in commentator's curse?

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 1, 2019

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