Ind vs Aus 4th Test – Rishabh Pant surpasses MS Dhoni: Rishabh Pant’s performance at oversees continue to reach new heights as the young wicketkeeper achieved another record on Tuesday during the fourth Test between India and Australia at Gabba, Brisbane.
The 23-year-old overtook former Indian skipper and probably the greatest wicketkeeper of his time MS Dhoni to reach runs. He is the fastest Indian batsman wicketkeeper to reach the milestone. Pant took 27 innings to score 1000 Test runs, while Dhoni had taken 32.
At the third position is Farokh Engineer (36), followed by Wriddhiman Saha (37) and Nayan Mongie (39) respectively.
Fastest Indian WK to 1000 Test runs (by innings):
27 Rishabh Pant*
32 MS Dhoni
36 Farokh Engineer
37 Wriddhiman Saha
39 Nayan Mongia
Pant will be key on the final day if Indian fancy winning the Test and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Playing at 10 off 23 balls, Pant will once again.. look to repeat the Sydney heroics with Pujara as his partner.
Ind vs Aus 4th Test: India still in game
Earlier, Shubman Gill announced his arrival on the global stage with a sublime 91 while Cheteshwar Pujara surpassed all pain threshold barriers to keep India on course for a challenging 328-run target, taking the score to 183/3 at tea on the final day.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane (24 off 22 balls) looked good before Pat Cummins (2/22 in 17 overs) dismissed him to keep Australia in the hunt during an engrossing session of a high-quality Test match.
Gill showed he is there to rule world cricket despite missing out on a hundred as his disdainful treatment of Mitchell Starc will be remembered for a long time.
Pujara, on the other hand, saw Australian try out a menacing short ball tactic. He took a few on the helmet, a few more on the chest and other parts and a painful one on the knuckles to remain unfazed on 43 off 168 balls as India need to either score 145 runs or bat out another 37 overs to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
With Rishabh Pant (10 batting, 23 balls) for company, India might just take a sneak peek at that target during the final session.
The first two sessions were about different school of batsmanship where Gill and Pujara showed that there are multiple ways to skin a cat and no two ways are similar.
If Pujara was ready to duck, sway and cop body blows off Hazlewood and Cummins, showing the art of survival, young Gill, on his first tour of Australia was ready to take the intimidatory tactic head-on by bringing the pull shot out of his repertoire.
The duo during its 114-run stand showed that very contrasting styles can co-exist without conflict even as fans of both genres can have a field day on social media arguing which is the more appropriate approach.
The fifth-day pitch at the Gabba seemed to be pretty flat with not much help for the Australia pacers as Gill played a few cut shots and comfortably drove on the up.
With no lateral movement either in the air or off the pitch, Gill looked comfortable with his “playing beside the line of the ball” technique.
Against the ‘100 Test man’ Nathan Lyon, Gill came down the track to hit a flowing cover drive even as the seasoned off-spinners tactic of not having close-in fielders on the off-side invited sharp criticism from Shane Warne, who was on the air.
After eight fours and two sixes, Gill was finally caught on the wrong foot when Lyon changed his line to a one wide of off-stump and the result was an edge to the first slip.
The placid nature of the track also didn’t help the Australians who kept an attacking field for the better part of the session.
Among Gill’s shots, the backfoot cover drive off Hazlewood would stay with any fan for the longest time. He also used Starc’s bounce to slash him over backward point for a six and also pulled him for good measure.
His intent rubbed off on Pujara, who also played a few strokes, and Rahane during his short stay at the crease, showing that India is not afraid of chasing the target.