India batter Rishabh Pant’s tremendous knock in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21’s fourth Test match in Gabba, Brisbane has been touted as one of the reasons behind Cricket Australia’s (CA) seven-year mega deal with Disney Star for the broadcast of cricket in India and Asia.

Pant scored an unbeaten 89 as India overhauled Australia’s target in their traditional stronghold to win the Test by three wickets, and with it the series.

Recently, it was revealed by CA that they had signed a seven-year deal with Disney Star, owned by The Walt Disney Company, to broadcast Australian cricket matches in India and other areas across Asia.

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Cricket Australia’s deal with Walt Disney Company-owned Disney Star is worth AUD360 million which will enable the telecast of Australia's men’s and women’s international games, the Big Bash League (BBL), and the Women’s BBL in India for a period of seven years beginning in 2023–2024.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald Rishabh Pant’s amazing exploit in the fourth Test of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Gabba was a catalyst for this huge deal.

The report said that "Pant's phenomenal innings to deliver India the Gabba Test and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in January 2021 remained fresh in plenty of executive memories".

The report added that CA's agreement with Disney Star is "larger than the fee Nine was paying, as recently as a decade ago, for all cricket in Australia- AUD275 million between 2006 and 2013".

(IANS/Sydney Morning Herald report)