Rishabh Pant played a counter-attacking knock on the fifth day to give India hopes of chasing down a mammoth total, but three runs short of a century, he was dismissed looking to go to his hundred in style.

India had very little hope of winning the Test match as they walked out on day five at the SCG. But during the course of an intense morning session, Pant took down Nathan Lyon, Australia’s third highest Test wicket-taker, to give his side hopes of a famous comeback.

Unable to keep in the second innings after copping a blow on the arm while batting, Pant batted through the pain to keep India in the hunt.

With Cheteshwar Pujara for company, Pant took the attack to the Australians and India ate into the target at a healthy pace. He was saved by dropped catches from Tim Paine, but carried on unperturbed and raced towards a second Test century in Australia.

Unfortunately, he never got there. Three runs short of a hundred, Pant stepped out against Lyon to loft down the ground, but the sharp turn found the edge of his bat and the catch was pouched at backward point.

The outstanding innings had lifted India out from the abyss and Pant earned a lot of praise for his spectacular knock which almost resulted in a second Test hundred in Australia.

However, the aggressive intent that resulted in his dismissal did not quite go down well with a section of fans, who criticised his ‘reckless’ batting.


However, as Harsha Bhogle pointed out, would India have got to where they did if Pant hadn’t played the way he did?

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