India's wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant's winning four against Australia at the Gabba will be remembered for long. The shot sealed a memorable win in Brisbane which also confirmed India's second ever series win in Australia.
The 23-year-old, speaking on Sports Today, recalled the winning hit and said he wasn't sure if the ball will reach the boundary or not. He was more focused on running the remaining three runs for the win.
Pant said after hitting Josh Hazlewood down the ground he felt the ball had hit the bottom part of the bat. He had shouted for a three with Navdeep Saini on the other end; completely forgetting that his partner has a groin injury.
"When I played the lost shot, I felt the ball hit the bottom of the bat. The outfield was also slow. So when the ball was traveling, I told Saini (non-striker). I told him Saini '3, not 2 but 3'. His groin injury slipped my mind and I was running fast," he said.
"First run, I closed my eyes and ran. While running the second run, I noticed that the mid-off fielder didn't even chase the ball. I was wondering 'why is this fielder not running?'. Then I noticed, the ball was going towards the boundary, then I was filled with joy. I was shouting 'Saini 3, we have to run 3'. Saini was running on one leg. It was fun," he added.
Pant scored unbeaten 89 runs in the 328-run chase on the last day. Only Adam Gilchrist (149* vs Pakistan) has a higher score by a wicketkeeper in a successful fourth-innings chase than the India wicket-keeper's knock.
(With Sports Today Inputs)
