Rishabh Pant’s mini counter-attack left Australia shocked

Cricket in Australia works differently as compared to other parts of the world and nothing encapsulates the very ideology than the grand old format of the sport. You have to take the bull by the horns, or else the tragic irony of fate would catch you soon. If you are not ahead when it is conducive, you will be in a shackle way too difficult to get out of.

Possibly, no one understood the dichotomy better than Rishabh Pant. Coming on the back of a lot of expectations and a question mark about his international future, Pant felt the heat. But that heat this time didn’t result in an under-pressure knock, as it does in ODIs, but rather an enterprise India will thank him for,

Sure enough, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill played out a crucial passage of play, and then Hanuma Vihari was right in his elements till he decided to play a rather unusual and unnecessary shot. But Pant’s innings in the context of what happened before and afterward was important for the fortune of India and a steely difference between the visitors winning the Test and being hammered by the hosts in the Boxing Day encounter.

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Even though Australia were blocked by a stoic Ajinkya Rahane, who batted like a man possessed in the second session of Day 2, it was Pant’s counterpunch against Pat Cummins that changed the momentum in India’s direction. Cummins was terrific in the first session but with a little success, he was forced to bowl long spells – a part of the aggressive captaincy tactics by Tim Paine.

Paine understood Cummins, followed by Nathan Lyon, looked the most likely contender to give Australia a wicket and that was of paramount importance for the side after they were bundled out for a paltry first innings total. But the moment Pant took the attack on Cummins, it gave Rahane the chance to change the gear at the other end, with the right-hander playing some free-flowing shots to close the gap.

Bereft of options, Australia did the most un-Australian thing possible – going defensive straight away. In pursuit of saving a few runs here and there, they let the momentum slide in favour of Ajinkya Rahane’s men with the captain leading from the front. But the damage was already done with the second-highest run-scorer from the last edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ensuring a fundamental carnage on the Aussies’ hope of widening Indian crack, literally and figuratively.

The nice little knock was as important for the Indian team in the context of the game as any of his Test knocks were and that says something. In his brief stay, Pant not only answered why he is such an invaluable commodity in tough batting conditions, but also a figure who can change the course of the game even before the opposition have any time to think how to skin the cat. That is a Pant who is million dollar worth.