The fifth and final day of the Brisbane Test between India and Australia belongs to the 23-year-old Rishabh Pant who did everything in the best of his abilities to ensure that he’d drive the team to a historic victory at the Gabba.

In a unique blend of discipline, patience and aggressiveness, Pant built an unbeaten 89-run innings while sharing the pitch with a wide range of players like Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur and Navdeed Saini.

In an epic internal race for the Indian series' leading runs scorer, we had an engaging healthy competition throughout the last day of a long Test series

Gill - Pujara - Rahane

Everybody had their moments at the top of the list.

Rishabh Pant skyrocketed as the topper#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/Mncd4a55JO

— North Stand Gang - Wankhede (@NorthStandGang) January 20, 2021

And even though his partners continued to change as the day progressed, Pant remained unshaken at the crease with not an inch of stress visible on his face. 

His confident shots and matured advice to the other batter, the southpaw perfectly moulded India’s second innings to not just win the match and the series, but also break Australia’s phenomenal Test record of being undefeated at the Gabba for the past three decades.

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It was a ‘one-of-the-kind’ innings by a ‘one-of-the-kind’ cricketer but the diehard fans of former Team India captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni tried to take away that title from the young prodigy.

pic.twitter.com/nQRp9J5e4W

— Dhoni Fan (@Dhoni7fanalways) January 19, 2021

But the rest of the fans of the Indian cricket team could not let Dhoni fans take away this performance from Pant.

Bhai eyes ka check-up krao

— Hariom (@Hariom00097888) January 19, 2021

Bhai aankh check krwa lo chasma lagega sayed

— Binod (@Thakri_chokro69) January 19, 2021

Dhoni has 19 average in australia

— 100 THIEVES POG (@TricsTriceps) January 19, 2021

Lol! Dhoni would've settled for a draw like he did in Dominica 2011.

— The Kingslayer (@numbIITian) January 19, 2021

Lol Dhoni would've taken the game 'deep' and settled for a draw. Pant much better Test player than Dhoni

— Vasu (@i__vasu) January 19, 2021

Dhoni’s critics believe that the biggest reason why Pant’s innings was different from the one the Ranchi-born would have played is the fact that Pant had every intention of winning the Gabba Test while the former would have settled for a draw to retain the trophy.

Over the nine Test matches that Dhoni had played on Australian soil, the unorthodox batsman managed to put 311 runs on the board in 18 innings. With an average of 19.44 and a strike rate of 46.35, Captain Cool’s highest score Down Under is that of 57*.

The 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was a true test of character for the young Rishabh Pant who had to go through all sorts of adversities over the course of the series. 

He was left out of the Playing XI for the Adelaide Test. He was criticised for dropping several easy catches behind the wicket in Melbourne and Sydney. Finally, he suffered a nasty hit on his left elbow while batting in the first innings of the third Test and was in severe pain for the entirety of the match.

Despite all the challenges, Pant prevailed. His performance will go down in history as one of the best innings by an Indian cricketer and nothing, not even Dhoni’s essence should take that away from him.

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