Rishabh Pant has become the toast of the cricket fraternity since he played the game-winning blow against Australia to win the Brisbane Test for India last week.
From comparisons to Ben Stokes’ heroic acts at Headingley to Kusal Perera’s destruction of Durban, Pant’s entries were compared to the best of the best by cricket experts and fans alike.
It was Shubman Gill’s 91 and Pant’s 89 undefeated on the final day of the fourth test, helping India achieve the most successful chase (328) at the Gabba and become the first team after the West Indies. to beat Australia there since 1988..
Pant hit the winning runs, a Josh Hazlewood cap to finish the match with just 3 overs to spare, and then picked up the Man of the Match trophy for a truly memorable hit that made the impossible possible as India secured the series 2-1. and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the second time in a row in Australia.
Speaking with Boria Majumdar about the latest Sports Today episode, Pant said that he was always focused on chasing the target, as the draw was never an option on his mind.
“The mentality was always to play normal cricket, even the team management talked about it in the first innings. Let’s look to score runs, take advantage of the loose balls, just stay there and do what you can at that moment.
“The plan of the team management from the beginning of the game was ‘let’s try to win the game’. Even my thought has always been to win. I just want to win all the games, the draw is always the secondary option,” Pant said in Sports Hoy.
Pant had a stroke of luck when Australian captain Tim Paine missed a chance to knock down left-hander Nathan Lyon’s bowling alley. In the next ball, he went down the court and deposited the ball in the long stands, to the surprise of Lyon.
The 23-year-old explained that there was a method behind the insanity and that he only went after balls that were thrown in his hitting zone.
“When you are looking to leave a ball that spins a lot on the field, that’s fine, but if you are going to take a shot, you can probably miss because normally the ball does not drift that much.
“At the time I thought ‘a ball spun so much and Lyon is such an experienced bowler that he will try to push one of the stumps away. I knew he was going to try to spin one away from the stumps so I was ready to go out and hit him if he throws one. delivery launched.
“Otherwise, I hadn’t planned that I was going to go out and look for a big hit anyway. But if the ball lands in my area then I think it has to be hit from the ground,” Pant said.
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