Rishabh Pant has been taken to hospital after being hit on the elbow by a short delivery from Pat Cummins while batting on day 3 of the Sydney Test against Australia. The BCCI released a statement which said, "Rishabh Pant was hit on the left elbow while batting in the second session on Saturday. He has been taken for scans." During the tea break, Wriddhiman Saha was seen warming up and he will take the gloves as the fitness report on the availability of Rishabh Pant is awaited. Australia put in a splendid performance with the ball, with Pat Cummins taking 4/29 as they took a lead of 94 runs. This injury compounded an already poor Test match for Rishabh Pant. In the first innings, he dropped two catches off Will Pucovski as the debutant scored a fifty on debut. This further intensified the trolling of Rishabh Pant with many arguing that Wriddhiman Saha was the safest choice behind the wickets.
Rishabh Pant shared a crucial partnership of 53 with Cheteshwar Pujara as the duo looked to recreate their heroics in 2019 when both Pujara and Rishabh Pant shared a brilliant partnership to help India ensure they won the Test series in Australia for the first time. Rishabh Pant was looking in fine form in this match as well as he struck a couple of confident boundaries. Cheteshwar Pujara, at the other end, took 174 balls to reach his fifty and this was the slowest fifty of his career even by his standards. Rishabh Pant looked to be aggressive and often missed the drive of a wide ball. The incident took place in the 85th over when Rishabh Pant looked to pull a short ball from Pat Cummins but he missed and got hit on the elbow. The physio tended to him and applied the magic spray and he continued batting.
However, the blow to his elbow clearly disturbed him and in the quest for aggression, he fell into the trap set by Josh Hazlewood as he went driving a full and wide delivery outside off only to be caught by David Warner at first slip for 36. However, Rishabh Pant had created a new record of scoring nine consecutive 25+ scores in Australia, which broke the previous record set by Sir Vivian Richards
Pat Cummins' magnificent performance of 4/29 was the key point in Australia ensuring that they had a big lead heading into the second innings. A fine cameo from Ravindra Jadeja helped India take their deficit to below 100 but Ajinkya Rahane's team were undone by some magnificent bowling from Pat Cummins, who cemented his reputation as the No.1 bowler in the world.
India have not won a Test in Sydney ever since 1978 and they will have to play out of their skins if they have to win this Test and retain the Border-Gasvaskar Trophy