IND vs AUS 2022: R Sridhar Recalls Rishabh Pant's Reaction To India's 36 All-out In Adelaide
Published - 19 Sep 2022, 01:48 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:13 AM
India’s Test series win over Australia in the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar series was one of the greatest comebacks from Team India. The Men in Blue had faced a humiliating loss in the first Test in Adelaide, being reduced to 36 runs in the second innings and eventually losing by eight wickets.
Furthermore, Virat Kohli, the team’s captain at the time, left for India for personal reasons and added to the woes of the team. However, India made a remarkable comeback under Ajinkya Rahane, winning matches in Melbourne and Brisbane to clinch the series 2-1.
Rishabh Pant was instrumental in the team’s dominant comeback. The youngster was benched for the first Test in favour of Wriddhiman Saha, but the team’s surprising batting collapse forced the management to bring Pant forward from the second match.
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper didn’t disappoint, scoring 274 runs in three games, including an unbeaten 89 in the second innings at the Gabba, which helped India win the series.
Team Vote To Better Wicket Keeper Wriddhiman Saha: Sridhar
Former India fielding coach R Sridhar has finally revealed his plans for Rishabh Pant after the team’s batting order collapsed in the first Test in Adelaide.
“In the 2021 series against Australia, it was a toss-up between a better WK and a better batsman, and the vote went to Wriddhiman Saha. At that time, he was the best wicketkeeper in the world. But then, the 36-all-out happened,” Sridhar recalled on cricket.com.
Sridhar revealed that he has been with Rishabh Pant outside the stadium at the practice pitches and two were shocked to see India’s scoreboard.
“You won’t believe, on the Day 3 morning when the wickets got tumbling, Pant and I were outside on the practice pitches, working on keeping. We kept hearing these loud ‘oooohhhs’ and thunderous applauses at Adelaide Oval. And we were both like, ‘Oh I hope it’s not a wicket’.
“And after about 20 minutes, we aborted our keeping session and came running into the stadium to see what the score was. It was 21/7. Me and Rishabh were like, ‘What has just happened here?!’ We didn’t even see it live,” he added.
We Realized That We Don’t Have Left-hander In The Top-6: Sridhar
After India’s disastrous 36-all-out, Sridhar stated that the team management recognized the importance of the left-hander in the batting line-up and as a result, Rishabh Pant was given the chance to fill the void in the upcoming games. Pant has been praised during India’s victories and has been the driving force behind the historic series.
“And then, we realized that we don’t have a left-hander in the top-6. We had all the right-handers. We wanted to bring a left-hander in the series and we got Rishabh Pant. He played from the 2nd Test and the rest, as they say, is history,” said Sridhar.
