By far, Rishabh Pant’s performance in the Brisbane Test in Australia, during the 2020-21 tour is one of the highlights of the recent cricket history in India.
In this match, that was part of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, history was made at the Gabba in Brisbane which had seen Australia not lose for 32 years.
This series was level at 1-1 and was to be the tie breaker for both sides.Pant and Co. had already faced a lot of injury issues, and a lot of key players were missing for the final encounter.
Needing 328 to win the match in the last 5th days played on a crumbling 5th day pitch, Rishabh Pant walked in at Number 5. The match was delicately placed at this junction when India had a tense situation as the match could have gone either way.
Rishabh Pant, off 138 deliveries reached an unbeaten 89 runs in his innings and he once again applied the unsparing sword to the Australians in relentless pursuit. Once again not many runs were scored, but Pant held his nerve and controlled the game with risk free strokes and some solid defence along with powerful offensive attack.
360 runs were chased down and India won by 3 wickets. The target of 328 was also the most runs chased at the Gabba successfully and the record books showcase of one of the highest.
Australia’s winning streak at the Gabba dated back to 1988 and had been intact until new millennium so the day became historic in cricketing sensibilities when India tasted a victory while Pant fearlessly counter hydra-headed Australian attack on a difficult day five track scored an astounding unbeaten 89 and helped India clinch the two out of the three tests in the series with Border Gavaskar trophy retained.
The three wickets in final day’s play meant that India achieved something no other Indian cricket team ever had the fortune of achieving – Back to back test series wins down under.
It can be recalled here that India did not play Rishabh Pant in both the previous ODI as well as the T20 series. But the wicketkeeper-batsman announced himself in the test series with a belligerent knock of 97 runs in the second innings in Sydney and a match clinching innings in Brisbane.
This particular innings enhanced the image of Pant as a match winner in Test cricket as he is known for his aggressive and domineering attitude, and that effort in the Brisbane Test is still regarded as one of the best bodies of work by an Indian player in away series.
