SYDNEY: Scott Boland was steaming in at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In fact, he has been all through the series — Adelaide, Melbourne and so on. And every time he ran in, he made India pay. In a series where he has played three games, the Victorian has already taken 19 wickets at 14.42.
He is by and large the best bowler for Australia. In fact, at one point he had a better average than that of Jasprit Bumrah (13.06) in this series. Here, on a breezy Saturday afternoon, Boland had already castled KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal before following it up with the wicket of Virat Kohli, who potentially played his last Test on Australian soil.
Taking strike against him was Rishabh Pant. The keeper-batter on day one batted for 98 balls, and took multiple body blows on his way to what was perhaps his slowest 40 in Test cricket. After the kind of dismissals he had in Melbourne, Pant was under a lot of pressure and the pitch too was such that he had to spend time in the middle playing an out-of-character innings. So much so that his approach left the Australian camp surprised.
Here, as Pant took guard, no one knew what to expect. Would he fight it out as he was asked to do in the first innings or was he going to be the Rishabh Pant that the world has seen from the time he got his first Test runs with a six? Up against the most dangerous Australian bowler, Pant cleared it all up on the very first delivery he faced. He charged at Boland and deposited the pacer over long-on, making the 47,000 fans, the media and the Indian dressing room sit up and gasp.
It was just a trailer of what he had in store. He flicked Pat Cummins through midwicket, and in the air, flat-batted Boland down the ground before cutting Beau Webster for a four. He followed it up with two consecutive boundaries in the same over — one a falling pull and another inside out over extra cover.
The Sydney Cricket Ground had come alive. For the past 18 hours it had all been about the bowlers seaming the ball off length and batters fighting it out. But here was a maverick, who in some way was sending out a clear message. He can bat his way to a 98-ball or 40 or do what he does, perhaps only he can, and change the course of the game in an hour or so.
On Saturday, Pant chose the latter. He slogged Webster into the stands, racing to 47 off just 23 balls. At one point, Pant looked all set to break his own record of scoring the fastest Test fifty by an India (28). Here, it came in 29 balls with a pick-up six off Mitchell Starc. He smashed the left-armer for another off the very next delivery. Watching it from the dressing room, Prasidh Krishna was having his fun and so were the rest of the bowlers.
“I don't know about the plans or the meetings with the batters at all but it was really fun. All of us were sitting together, the bowlers, watching. We definitely said ‘if I was sitting at home and watching this, I would have loved it‘. To be able to do it from the ground, I mean, nothing like it. I know it's a lot of risk, but then, that's the way the game is played today,” Prasidh would say later.
If he stayed for another hour, India’s lead would have crossed 200. However, with Pant, it‘s a package deal. He is the kind of batter who has the range to do both the things he did in Sydney in less than 24 hours. He lives and dies by the method that works for him, perhaps only him. He eventually fell to Cummins — faint edge trying to cut him. The keeper-batter was livid with himself. He was not even this frustrated when he got out on Friday. All through his walk back, one could see the frustration as he kept punching the helmet and the bat.
It almost felt like he had a point to prove. To show the world that this is who he is — a one-of-a-kind genius with insane range and a solid defence. That he is better off playing the way he did on Saturday and being the game-changer. Century or not, for those 33 balls, he was one. He had already shown everyone what was already known.
“First of all, it's not surprising, the way he plays. We were in fact a little bit surprised in the first innings, the way he went about his work,” Australia head coach Andrew McDonald said. “He's got an incredible ability to put pressure back on bowlers. We were planning for that though. We bounced in and out of a few plans there and clearly kept taking on the boundary riders and he was getting away with it. It was an innings that you would say was right for that time."
Indeed, it could not have come at a better time for India. For it took them from 59/3 to 124/5 in a matter of 55 deliveries. And that ensured, India did not collapse and kept their head above water.
