‘I saw him hit 4 or 5 sixes in an over in a warmup match’ – Pat Cummins recalls his first encounter with Rishabh Pant

‘I saw him hit 4 or 5 sixes in an over in a warmup match’ – Pat Cummins recalls his first encounter with Rishabh Pant

Pat Cummins and Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant has been the breakout star of the Indian cricket team over the last six months. From a poor run of form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to being dropped from the limited overs side for the Australia tour, Pant has braved numerous huddles to return as a hero from Australia. His heroics in the Test series helped India to a historic Test series win Down Under in the absence of numerous big names.

Aussie fast bowler Pat Cummins was all praises for the young lad for his antic during the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Cummins recalled his first encounter with Rishabh Pant as he reveals that he was taken by the southpaw’s tremendous skill of mustering sixes at will.

“I have played alongside with Pant 4-5 years ago in Delhi, he hit 4 or 5 sixes in an over in a warmup match, before that I have not heard of him, after that I went to dugout and told we should pick him and Billings told, it’s Pant and he is a gun.”

“Obviously he is great form and takes the game on, puts pressure back on the bowlers and could win the game from anywhere. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of it,” Cummins said on Cricbuzz.

“I have not seen an innings like Cheteshwar Pujara’s,” Pat Cummins

Cheteshwar Pujara receives treatment on Day 5 of the fourth Test, was batting with Rishabh Pant
Cheteshwar Pujara receives treatment on Day 5 of the fourth Test

India’s No. 3, the one who was famously touted to be the successor of Rahul Dravid, Cheteshwar Pujara had not been in the best of form coming into the series against Australia. Pujara was under scrutiny when the tour began and the spotlight was on him. He had to be the hero in the absence of Virat Kohli. He was the hero India needed.

And the Saurashtra batter rose to the occasion in the direst of times. Pujara stuck to his game and frustrated the Aussie bowlers as the Indian batter, Rishabh Pant in particular, were able to play their natural game. Cummins hailed Pujara for his herculean effort as India sealed a consecutive second Test series win on Aussie soil.

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“I feel like I know Pujara too well without even speaking a word to him, he is an absolute stone wall. Just when we thought we might get through the series without him having a huge impact like he did a couple of years earlier. He batted really well at the MCG and then at the Gabba. Obviously a class player.“

“Another thing to love about Test cricket is you get to see opposites like Pujara and Pant bat together. Two guys who go about the game so differently and as a cricket fan, you gotta admire both of them,” Cummins adds.

Pujara was a rock in the middle, An immovable one at that, on the final day of the historic Gabba Test. He received a flurry of short-pitched deliveries. He ducked, defended, left, got hit. Not once. Not twice. He received three blows to his head alone and innumerable ones to his body, hand, ribs, you name it, yet he was unmoved. Cummins hails the innings asthe best he has ever witnessed in a game of cricket.

“If someone is looking solid in their defense, the way they are playing, you feel that if you hit them a couple of times if you wheeze one past their eye. Ten out of ten times you would see a change in their approach and then as a bowler you feel that you have created an opportunity.”

“That Test match, Pujara just didn’t give us any chance, he just kept letting it hit his body. A really courageous innings, I have not seen an innings like that where someone just copes and copes and copes with the blows.“

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