Rishabh Pant might have ended up being the hero of the Indian team’s victorious outing in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, however, not many might recall, that he wasn’t even in the playing XI for the first Test of that series in Adelaide.
India had gone in with Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant as the two wicketkeepers for the tour and went with Saha in the Adelaide Test which was the first day-night Test between the two sides.
However, it was a total humiliation for India, as despite a very good performance in the first innings, India was bundled out for its lowest ever Test score of 36 in the second innings and lost the Test match going 0-1 down in the series.
With Saha getting the nod, Pant revealed that it was a day prior to the start of the Test that he got to know he wasn't playing, news that came as a disappointment for him.
"I got to know one day before the match that I'm not playing. I was disheartened because in Adelaide I had played my first match in Australia when I went last time (during the 2018-19 series)," Pant said on the docu-series 'Bando Mein Tha Dum' streaming on VOOT.
India’s stand-in captain for the final three Tests of the series, Ajinkya Rahane said that Pant was expecting to play the first Test of the series but the team management went with Saha due to his seniority.
"He was expecting to play the first game but we went with Wriddhiman because he was a senior player," Rahane said during the same docu-series.
However, Pant was included in the second Test as the wicketkeeper while Rahane took over the captaincy duties as Virat Kohli had returned home after the Adelaide debacle for the birth of his first child. Pant played an exciting knock of 97 in the third Test match in Sydney, which India managed to draw.
Then in the fourth and final Test in Brisbane, Pant made 89* as India chased down 327 runs to win the Test and the series 2-1, their second consecutive Test series win down under.
