The young Indian wicket-keeper, Rishabh Pant has made a fine start with his gloves to his Test career in Australia. The youngster, tipped by many to replace the likes of MS Dhoni, did not have the best of the outings with the bat in the series opener in Adelaide. Known for his ultra-aggressive approach, Pant went for the big shots right from word go. Team India was down to 87 for 4 when Pant walked in.
Although the situation demanded a more composed inning from Pant, he decided against it and went for his natural game. Eventually, he was finally got dismissed soon in conditions which are not very much familiar to him. He hit a couple of four and a maximum before edging a Nathan Lyon delivery to Tim Paine behind the stumps.
Well, the youngster didn’t committed many mistakes with a glove in his hand as he was looking quite impressive with his wicketkeeping. In doing so, he equaled one of the feats of his illustrious predecessor MS Dhoni. Pant equaled Dhoni’s record of most catches by an Indian wicketkeeper in a Test innings by taking six catches. The veteran had achieved the feat way back in 2009 during the Wellington Test against New Zealand.
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Pant’s first dismissal was Usman Khawaja as then he went on grab the catches of Peter Handscomb, Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc, Travis Head and Josh Hazlewood.
India, meanwhile, bowled out Australia for 235 to take a slender 15-run lead, thus leaving the series-opener in Adelaide finely poised. The hosts had started the proceedings on day two on 191 for 7, still trailing India’s modest 250 by 59 runs. Travis Head, unbeaten on 61, took a guard with Mitchell Starc.
The match began after a 45-minute delay due to rain. However, Jasprit Bumrah drew the first blood on Day 3 and reduced the hosts to 204 for 8. Head and Nathan Lyon then threatened to wipe off the deficit before Mohammed Shami made sure it does not happen. Replying to that the Indian openers had a steady partnership of 63 runs and hence India went on to make 86 runs for the loss of both the openers at the stroke of Tea.
