India v Australia Test: Rishabh Pant from carrying drinks to lifting the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
From carrying drinks at Adelaide Oval, to lifting the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, it’s been a roller coaster month for Rishabh Pant.
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Rishabh Pant’s mother was too frightened to sleep on their overnight journeys to Delhi.
Night buses in India weren’t safe for women and so Pant the 12-year-old would shut his eyes and rest during the six-hour ride to training at Sonnet Cricket Academy as Saroj Pant sipped from a coffee flask.
The Pant family lived in one room in Roorkee – Rishabh, his sister Sakshi, father Rajendra Pant and mother Saroj all cramped in together.
They didn’t have much. But Rajendra and Rishabh had a deep connection through cricket and they would spend their days planning every tournament Pant would play in.
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Pant is just 23 years old and is already playing out of this world.
The explosive batsman has gone from carrying the drinks at Adelaide Oval to lifting the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in a mind-boggling month.
Overlooked in the first Test for sharp gloveman Wriddhiman Saha – and then enduring an untidy start on Boxing Day by leaking 10 early byes at the MCG – India’s X-Factor rock star has since pulled down Australia’s pants.
Yesterday’s 89 not-out (138 balls) at the Gabba validated Pant’s reputation as a clutch cricketer.
The man who has already stood up for India in a World Cup semi-final and IPL knockout matches can now add icing his country’s greatest ever Test run chase to a burgeoning resume.
The cricket world knows Pant as the yappy, cheeky keeper who is bursting with an energy and enthusiasm that opponents find downright annoying.
“Temporary captain,” was Pant’s sledge to Tim Paine two years ago as a brash 21-year-old who was far closer to the axe than Australia’s skipper.
But the kid who used to wake up at 2am to shadow bat in an effort to overhaul his batting technique is so much more than a playful backstop.
Much like Glenn Maxwell, Pant has polarised fans because his supreme entertainment value is sometimes undone by inconsistency.
But Pant has shown that while India has taken him out of its T20 side, it won’t be able to take the T20 out of him.
Coached by Ricky Ponting at Delhi in the IPL, Pant now averages 62.4 in Tests in Australia after seven matches – even more than Ponting’s 57.
Pant’s hand-eye coordination is even sharper than his tongue and he is fast becoming India’s version of David Warner for the way he can wildly move a match forward.
Pant pounded Nathan Lyon at the SCG on his way to 97 (118) in an innings that changed the course of this entire series.
When Pant was eight years old his father spent a chunk of the family’s savings ($250 AUD) on a cricket bat for Rishabh, much to his Saroj’s dissatisfaction.
Pant still has that special piece of willow and it has proved to be money very well spent.
THE DAY INDIA BULLIED THE BULLIES OUT OF FORTRESS GABBA
—Robert Craddock
It was the day when The Irrepressibles became The Immortals.
The day when Fortress Gabba was stormed by a group of cavalier raiders who kicked down the draw bridge, stole the crown jewels and raced off into the late afternoon sunshine towards hysterical fans who will cherish the memory forever.
Take it all India. You deserve it.
It’s not simply what you did – but how you did it, with a boldness that will inspire the entire cricket world, Australia included.
No team on the planet would dare attempt to do what India did at the Gabba … put a T20 coat of varnish on a Test match.
They did not simply win. They bolted in with Rishabh Pant ramp shots and pulls shots in which he fell over, Shubman Gill hitting 20 off an over off Mitchell Starc and debutant Washington Sundah hooking Pat Cummins for six as if it was over 18 of a Big Bash game.
Australia have been Pantsed!
When all the world thought India was terrified about visiting Fortress Gabba they hatched a cunning plan … to storm it.
Taking the Border-Gavaskar Trophy home with a draw was not enough. They wanted to pull Australia’s pants down on their cherished sacred turf where no team had won since Viv Richards’ West Indians in 1988.
Be bold. Be confident. Be free. You’ve got nothing to lose. Everyone expects you to lose. You might just win. That was the message from the coaching staff.
In 32 years of Australian domination there’s been teams containing Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and many other superstars have visited the Gabba but none have come with this attitude, never mind one whose bowling attack had a collective experience of three Tests.
And they won, chasing all the way with blissful freedom.
Extraordinary. Amazing. Stunning. Unbelievable. The Gabba could host another 90 years of Tests and see nothing like it.
The Gabba became a microcosm of all of India, dissolving into pure madness as the winning runs came with a Pant off drive that triggered a mass evacuation of the Indian dugout as several numb Australian players fell to their knees.
In the hours beforehand Indian fans were seen galloping up towards the Vulture Street entrance determined not to miss a moment.
This series has change the balance of power of world cricket. Australia are no longer the bully boys of the game. They have been stared down by the implacable, unruffled forces of an Indian team
In 90 years of Gabba Tests no team had scored more than 235 to win in a Test and they skate to 7-329 against a bowling unit three weeks ago called the greatest in Australia history.
At any stage India could have said “let’s play for a draw and we will retain the trophy,” but they wanted the win
Beating Australia in Brisbane was like taking down Rafael Nadal on clay – the ultimate. They wanted it badly.
India’s effort will inspire the rest of the world in so many ways.
It proved the best way to beat Australia is to play the ball and not the man. Attack them. Challenge them.
It proved that classical selection pathways can mean less that pure fighting spirit – outstanding debutant Washington Sundar had not played a game of first class cricket in almost four years before the Gabba Test.
But most of all it proved that Test cricket – grand old girl that she is – has a majesty that leaves all other forms of the game in the shade.
Originally published as India v Australia Test: Rishabh Pant from carrying drinks to lifting the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
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