Rishabh Pant played a breathtaking knock (33 off 61) on the second day of the fifth Test between India and Australia in Sydney on Saturday to script history in the longest format of the game. Rishabh Pant slammed the second-fastest Test fifty by an Indian batter to kept visitors alive in the game. Rishabh Pant was eventually dismissed for 61 off 33, flashing at a wide delivery from Pat Cummins.
The 27-year-old Rishabh Pant went all guns blazing and achieved the milestone in just 29 balls, just behind his own record of a 28-ball half-century against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru in 2022. Rishabh Pant entrained the packed Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) with four monstrous sixes and six boundaries. With this, the Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant became also the first and only player in the world to score two fifties in under 30 deliveries. This was his first fifty of the series and the second-fastest innings by anyone on Australian soil.
Day 2 : Morning Session : India strike four times in the morning session to skittle Australia’s reply
India had a good start with the ball on day two with both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj testing the batters early. On the green-pitch with high seam movement, the sun being out made little difference to how difficult batting would prove to be. After the late strike on day one, Bumrah was at it again early on day two when he had Marnus Labuschagne nicking behind, adjudged on review.
The day had dawned with Bumrah snaring Marnus Labuschagne for 2 and throwing a stare at non-striker Sam Konstas. Bumrah surpassed Bishen Singh Bedi’s tally for the most wickets taken by an India bowler on a tour of Australia.
The 19-year-old responded strongly with the bat when he advanced at Bumrah and shanked him down the ground for four. Then, after Bumrah reinforced the slip cordon by bringing deep third in, Konstas unfurled another audacious reverse-ramp, prompting Bumrah to post a fielder at deep third.
In the next over, however, Mohammed Siraj had Konstas edging to gully for 23 off 57 balls with an outswinger. Three balls later, he had Travis Head caught at second slip for 4. Where Bumrah and Australia’s quicks hit the deck, the source of Siraj’s menace was swing. So, he kept exploring a fuller length to maximise that swing.
Sam Konstas took the adventurous route out against Bumrah, reverse-lapping him for boundary or walking down to drive him down the ground. It enabled Australia to punch back but the counter could not last long. Siraj too found his rhythm outside off, moving the ball away from a good length. It eventually got the better of Konstas who edged to gully. Siraj’s attacking lengths allowed Travis Head to clip one off his pads but in the same over he had him nicking to the slip cordon leaving them precariously poised at 39/4 inside the first hour.
However, on his home ground, Steve Smith managed to survive a few plays and misses while also leaving the ball well. He had some release shots on offer when Prasidh Krishna came on to bowl. India’s third frontline pacer was not consistent with his lengths like Bumrah or Siraj, and that enabled Smith to both pull and drive crucial boundaries.
Smith and Webster steadied Australia with a 57-run partnership for the fifth wicket before Smith fell to Prasidh at the stroke of lunch. Smith seemed destined to reach 10,000 Test runs but moments before the break Prasidh shifted his stock length to an even more fuller one to dismiss him five short of the landmark.
In Beau Webster, he also found a more than adequate partner to counter India’s change-up bowling options as the runs began to trickle in. The duo added 57 runs for the fifth wicket as the wicket started to ease out a little more as the sun shone. But against the run of play, as Steve Smith was approaching the milestone of 10000 Test runs he fell for 33, edging Prasidh Krishna to second slip. It gave India a much-needed fillip as they picked up four wickets even as Australia scored 92 runs.
Day 2 : Post Lunch Session : Pace pack steps up in Bumrah’s absence to give India small lead
India’s pace pack presented a good account of themselves on the second day to restrict Australia to 181 and earning a minor four-run first innings lead. For the latter half of the innings, they were even without their captain and main bowler Jasprit Bumrah who had been spotted leaving the ground in a car in training gear, for what could presumably be for scans.
In the absence of Bumrah through that second session, however, India’s younger crew stepped up. Nitish Reddy had two wickets in two balls as he had both Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc nicking off. The slip cordon did not drop any through the day, and it was only enhanced when Prasidh Krishna had Beau Webster caught at gully for 57.
Then, in the afternoon, he stormed through the defenses of Alex Carey with a similar length. Reddy rocked Australia even further with the wickets of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Australia lost their last four wickets for just 19 runs to be bowled out for 181.Webster was the lone batter that kept hitting back playing percentage cricket right through and holding the Australian innings together. He had initially helped them recover from a top-order stutter alongside Steve Smith in the first session.
India’s support bowlers, though, stepped up admirably on the second day, with Prasidh Krishna and Reddy sharing five wickets among them. India’s non-Bumrah seamers came away with combined figures of 8 for 132 – their best in any innings on this tour.
Reddy picked up two wickets in two balls while Prasidh marked his Test comeback with the scalps of Steven Smith, Alex Carey and debutant Beau Webster, who top-scored for Australia with 57 off 105 balls. Webster continued his excellent debut, becoming the first Australian since Adam Voges in 2015 to score a half-century on Test debut.
Day 2 : Afternoon Session : Rishabh Pant’s fiery 61 runs of 31 balls and Scott Boland’s 4-fer keeps SCG Test in balance
On a day that the match moved at breakneck speed, where 314 runs were scored and 15 wickets fell, India finished with a lead of 145 runs at stumps. The match though remained evenly poised with the lead at still a gettable stage with Scott Boland leaving them down to the last-recognized batting pair.
India’s lead would feel lesser particularly so with Jasprit Bumrah suspected to have picked up an injury. While it remained unclear what the nature of injury was, Jasprit Bumrah was absent throughout the second session after having bowled in the first. India still managed to eke out out a four-run first innings lead in his absence.
They proceeded to carry that confidence with the bat as Yashasvi Jaiswal got going with four boundaries off Mitchell Starc’s first over. India’s attacking opening stand though was cut short by Scott Boland who rattled the timber of both KL Rahul and Jaiswal in quick succession. The pitch, which offered appreciable assistance to seam movement all day, proved to be Boland’s biggest ally alongside his relentless lines and lengths.
Yashasvi Jaiswal then launched India’s second innings in grand style, scything Starc for four fours in the first over. KL Rahul, too, showed some attacking intent at the other end until Boland (who else) intervened and curtailed India’s rapid start.
He struck in his second over when he had Rahul chopping an in ducker onto his stumps and in his next over, he knocked Jaiswal over with a beauty that angled in towards middle from around the wicket and seamed away late to beat the outside edge and smash the top of off stump. Boland proceeded to dismiss Virat Kohli in familiar fashion, for 6.
It was the eighth time that Kohli was out edging behind to the keeper or the slip cordon in nine trips to the crease in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was so angry that he yelled at himself and punched himself in the leg. Webster earned his maiden Test wicket when he had Shubman Gill caught behind off the inside edge.
He accounted for Virat Kohli too soon after, getting him nicking to the slip cordon yet again. India’s counter to Boland came in the form of Rishabh Pant who danced down the track first batter having spent nearly 150 minutes being someone else with the bat on the first day, managing 40 off 98 balls, the real Pant stood up on the second.
He charged at his first ball from Boland, who had just snared Kohli, and violently clubbed him over mid-on for six. He then ventured a reverse-ramp off his third ball, and though he failed to connect, he didn’t curb his natural instincts in this innings. All to slap the pacer off his length for a boundary.
Rishabh Pant then lined up Webster for three successive fours, including a trademark falling sweep-pull. He notched up his fifty with a helicoptered six off Starc and celebrated the milestone with a six next ball. Rishabh Pant’s assault forced Australia into bowling T20 lines and lengths. When Cummins went short and wide of off and hid the ball away from Rishabh Pant’s swinging arc, he chased it and ended up feeding an edge to the keeper.
That attacking intent stayed right through Rishabh Pant’s innings even as he saw Shubman Gill failing in a counter-attacking ploy and becoming debutant Beau Webster’s maiden Test wicket. But like Webster was with the bat for Australia, Rishabh Pant remained a standout in the Indian innings.
Both were the only half-centurions of the day but their methods had been contrasting. Rishabh Pant’s counter-attack led him to get a 29-ball fifty, the second quickest in India’s Test history. Through that phase, he put on a 44-run stand for the fifth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, who had contributed a mere 2 to that partnership. Rishabh Pant flicked, pulled, cut and swung his way to boundaries against the likes of Boland, Webster and Starc.
However, he fell soon after the final drinks break of the day when Pat Cummins slanted one across him and saw the slash getting an edge through to the ‘keeper. Like Boland vs Kohli, this was the fourth time that Cummins had managed to get Rishabh Pant through the series.
After his dismissal, Australia brought the scoring down to minimum before Nitish Reddy hit Boland straight to mid-off in an attempt to release the pressure. Boland had Reddy holing out for 4 to cap a 15-wicket day in Sydney. The lack of runs, albeit in tough conditions, offset some of the good work done by India’s bowlers earlier in the day.
Road Ahead on Day 3 for Australia and India
During the lunch break on the second day, Rohit Sharma cleared the air, saying that he had sat out of the Sydney Test and that he wasn’t retiring from Test cricket yet. Soon after the break, Jasprit Bumrah, who had taken over from Rohit as captain, left the SCG for scans. Australia had lost half their side around that time, with the game – and the series – dangling on a razor’s edge. Despite the absence of Bumrah, India snatched a four-run first-innings lead, turning the Sydney Test into a second-innings shootout.
Rishabh Pant pulled India further ahead with a jaw-dropping 29-ball half-century. It was the second-fastest fifty by an Indian in Test cricket, behind his own 28-ball effort against Sri Lanka in 2022. After Scott Boland had carved up India’s top order with pinpoint accuracy, Pant countered them and thrilled a Sydney crowd of 47,257.
The late dismissals of Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy kept the game in the balance, with India leading by 145 at stumps. The second-innings shootout, though, could get skewed in favour of Australia if Bumrah isn’t fit to bowl anymore in this Test.
The game has moved at the pace of knots. 11 wickets fell on day 1. And 15 fell on day 2. The game never had a dull moment as the bowlers were in the thick of the action all the time. Indian bowlers despite Bumrah bowling only 10 overs put up a spirited show. Krishna and Reddy who initially struggled with their lines and lengths pulled up their socks and helped India skittle out the hosts for 181. India managed a slender lead of 4.
The Aussies had their debutant Webster top-scoring for them with a fifty. The hosts though after the first innings bargain were behind in the game. But India were sweating as Bumrah’s fitness was a concern with him having gone for a scan after lunch. But Indian openers started off freely. But Boland came in and struck thrice.
From 42 for 1 to 78 for 4, India had lost their footing with Boland breathing fire and looking unplayable. But then Rishabh Pant took charge and scored a brisk 61 off 33 balls. India ended the day with a lead of 145. If the deck continues to play like this, India will have the advantage. But they would want to add a few runs early on day 3. Another massive question would be how much Bumrah will be able to contribute in this game.