Rishabh Pant, the 23-year-old marvel, did the unthinkable when he played an undefeated 89-run innings to help the Indian cricket team defeat Australia at the Brisbane Cricket Ground during the final Test of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, while shattering the hosts’ 33-year-old record of not losing a match at the Gabba.
While on his way to achieving greatness, Pant also helped the Men in Blue bag the series for a second consecutive time after they’d won the series on Australian turf back in 2018-19 for the very first time in Indian cricket history.
View this post on InstagramIn an interview with Hindustan Times, Pant spoke in detail about the mentality with which he’d stepped on the Gabba pitch on the final day of the match and played the greatest knock of his international career.
“From when I walked out to bat in Brisbane, it was already in my head that we had to win the match. I never gave a second thought for a draw.”
“I was trying to keep us, as a team, in the game for as long as possible. Puji bhai and I had short targets in mind – 15-20 runs here and there and play till the end of the session and things like that,” he added.
View this post on Instagram“Right at the end, when only 30-40 runs were left, they gave me permission to go for the target. But before that, I was doing whatever I could to keep us in the chase,” Pant said.
One of the biggest upsets for the young cricketer out of the series was missing out on a well deserved century during the second innings of the Sydney Test.
Pant was batting at 97 when he gave up his wicket to Nathon Lyon.
Pant is in trouble!
A Pat Cummins rocket has struck him hard on the elbow
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“Gaadi ka engine hota hai na. Start karo toh thoda agar 5-10 kilometre chalta hai, phir uske baad smooth ho jata hai (Imagine the unused engine of a car. You have to drive it for a few kilometres before it smoothens out),” the southpaw explained his innings which started out slowly (Pant had made just five runs in the first 33 deliveries) owing to the elbow injury he had endured in the first innings of the third Test and the pressure of playing on the final day of the match.
Reliving the moment he tried to get his ton with a hero shot which ended up going into the hands of Pat Cummins, Pant said:
“I thought the ball was there to hit. I still think so, even now.”
“Yes, I mistimed it and didn’t get a hundred. But I am going to try the same shot if that ball is bowled again at me. That’s how I play and that’s what I think,” he added.
The Lyon roars!
The dangerous Pant is gone and there's another twist in this cracking match! @hcltech | #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/rfvR17fAp8
“Every time you hit the ball in the air, you are taking your chances. So why not try for six runs? That’s what I think… If you’re trying to hit a six, like me, I know that sixes only fall outside the ropes and outside the ropes there are no fielders. So if you have done everything right, there is no problem,” the daring cricket spoke.
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