Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant showcased his explosive batting prowess on Day 2 of the fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Pant smashed the second-fastest fifty by an Indian in the longest format. The southpaw reached the milestone in just 29 balls.
Although he narrowly missed his record of a 28-ball fifty against Sri Lanka in 2022, Pant's SCG blitz marked the fastest fifty ever by a visiting batter on Australian soil, surpassing the 33-ball fifties recorded by England's John Brown (Melbourne, 1895) and West Indies' Roy Fredericks (Perth, 1975).
Rishabh Pant came to the crease after Virat Kohli's dismissal and wasted no time in taking on the Australian bowlers. From the very first ball, which he dispatched for a six off Scott Boland, the swashbuckling left-hander dominated the bowlers with fearless aggression.
His counterattack, particularly severe on Boland and Beau Webster, left the Australian team stunned. He was eventually dismissed for 61 off 33 balls, including six boundaries and four sixes.
This destructive knock was in stark contrast to Pant’s first-innings effort, where he scored a composed 40 runs off 98 balls. In the second innings, however, he discarded his conservative approach, opting for audacious stroke play to stretch India’s lead beyond 100 runs.
India ended the second day’s play at 141/6, extending their second innings lead to 145 runs with Ravindra Jadeja (8*) and Washington Sundar (6*) unbeaten in the middle.
For his whirlwind batting display, Rishabh Pant received rich praise from the cricket fraternity on social media platform X.
Here are the reactions:
