Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar said that wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant’s valuable half-century were “impactful runs” in helping his team gain a sizeable lead over Australia at the end of the day two of fifth Test and also for playing some fine shots throughout his knock “in the front of the wicket”. Pant finally scored a half-century, getting his fifty in just 30 balls during day two of the Test match at Sydney. The half-century came after a frustrating wait to convert his fine starts into something more meaningful that lasted four Test matches. However, he lost his wicket to Aussie skipper Pat Cummins and India ended at 141/6, with a lead of 145 runs.

Speaking on Star Sports, Gavaskar said about Rishabh’s knock, “These are quite impactful runs, and he is the reason India has scored these runs because he has scored half of those runs. But the difference between the shot that he played at Melbourne versus the shot that he has played here, the difference is that the shots that he played today were in front of the wickets, he did play a shot towards the square-leg, he capitalised on Mitchell Starc’s angle and flicked it on the square-leg. And the strength that he possesses of playing down the ground and hitting big sixes in those regions, he capitalised on it. He tried to scoop the ball once and was not successful, he also tried to reverse scoop then too he was not successful and then he planned to play straight and he was successful in doing so. That is his normal game.”

During the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Pant has not been at his absolute best but still made 255 runs in five matches and nine innings at an average of 28.33, and a strike rate of 59.02, with one half-century. He has been unable to convert the most of his starts during the series into big knocks. He is the sixth-highest run-getter in the series.

Gavaskar also slammed other India batters, particularly Shubman Gill and KL Rahul for their bad shot selection and for not sticking to their normal game.

“Whereas our other batters did not play their normal game, stepping out and playing is not Shubman Gill’s normal game, it might be his normal game when it comes to T20 but not in Tests, the way Rahul played that shot was not his normal game. So, I think they had thought that we cannot prevail for long on this pitch and we’ll somehow bat it through but if it is not your normal game then there are quitea few chances that you might be successful,” he concluded.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bat first. India was off to a disappointing start yet again as the top order threw away their wickets, especially Virat Kohli (17) who continued his struggles with outside off-stump deliveries.

However, the fight by Pant (40 in 98 balls, with three fours and a six), Ravindra Jadeja (26 in 95 balls, with three fours) and skipper Jasprit Bumrah (22 in 17 balls, with three fours and a six) pushed India to 185/10 in 72.2 overs.

Boland (4/31) was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies and once again a thorn in the eyes of Indian batters. Mitchell Starc took 3/49 while Pat Cummins got 2/37.

In their first innings, Australia lost wickets at regular intervals even when Jasprit Bumrah (2/33) walked off the field due to an injury scare. Under the stand-in skipper Virat, India continued to dominate the Aussies, skittling them out for just 181 runs and taking a four-run lead. Debutant Beau Webster (57 in 105 balls, with five fours) had a fine showing with the bat and Steve Smith (33 in 57 balls, with four boundaries and a six) showed some attacking intent.

Prasidh Krishna (3/42) and Mohammed Siraj (3/51) were the top bowlers for India.

In their second innings, despite a promising start by Yashasvi Jaiswal (22 in 35 balls, with four boundaries) and KL Rahul (13), Indian batters fell to trap of Boland’s (4/42) impressive lines and lengths, with KL, Shubman Gill (13), Virat (6), Nitish Kumar Reddy (8) falling cheaply to consolidate Australia’s position in the match. At the end of the day, India made 141/6, with Jadeja (8*) and Sundar (6*).

File image of Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma.© AFP

Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar termed Nitish Kumar Reddy as the star of Indian cricket after the youngster scored his maiden Test hundred to rescue the side from a precarious situation in the ongoing fourth Test against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground. The batting all-rounder returned unbeaten on 105 at stumps on Day 3 after stitching a crucial 127-run partnership with Washington Sundar for the eighth wicket to take India to 385/9 in reply to Australia’s 474. “This is the first Test hundred and he is going to score many more in the near future. I am expecting to see him among the runs in the future. He is a star of the Indian cricket,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

The youngest man in India’s squad plays a knock far beyond his years!”

In just his fourth Test for India, Nitish Kumar Reddy scored a maiden Test century, as called by @CorbinMiddlemas.

Read more: https://t.co/g6PkpYwPq4

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— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) December 28, 2024

The former India captain added that the 21-year-old all-rounder has a bright future if he remains true to himself.

“However, he will have to remember the sacrifices made by his father and other members of the family. Nitish is here because of the Indian cricket and he will have to make sure that he doesn’t take Indian cricket for granted. If he stays true to himself, a successful career lies ahead of him,” he added.

Reddy’s resilient century was studded with 10 fours and a maximum as India successfully avoided the follow-on threat and kept Australia at bay throughout the day’s proceedings after losing Rishabh Pant (28) and Ravindra Jadeja (17) early on Saturday.

Former India head coach and all-rounder Ravi Shastri has called for Reddy to be promoted up the order after a series of consistent scores in the tour so far. Before the MCG Test, he had scored 41, 38 not out, 42, 42 and 16 across five innings of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

“I feel that the way he’s batted, this is the last time he will bat at 7. To get the balance of the side, you need him to go higher up the order, either 5 or 6 and then you have the opportunity of playing 5 bowlers to take the 20 wickets, and he’s given that kind of confidence to the selectors and the team management and the captain,” Shastri said during the tea break on Day 3.

“Reddy is fully capable of batting in the top 6. Then it changes the whole balance of the game,” he added. “You go to Sydney with him batting in the top 6, and you’re playing five bowlers,” he added.

Reddy will again be in the spotlight on Sunday as India still trail by 116 runs. With tailender Mohammed Siraj, on the other end, the youngster will look to reduce the deficit to hand Indian bowlers an edge in the match.

Legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar has lamented the decision taken by Team India to cancel a scheduled practice match in Australia between the senior team and India A. In fact, India’s senior team are not scheduled to play a single warm-up game in Australia before they set off on a five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Following India’s poor batting display in the recently-concluded home series against New Zealand, Gavaskar has called for common sense to prevail, and for some warm-up matches to be put in place for the India players.

In the spin-friendly conditions in India, the batters struggled against New Zealand, crossing a total of 300 just once in the entire Test series. With Australia posing a completely different challenge, in the form of fast, bouncy pitches, Gavaskar believes that warm-up games are a must.

In particular, out-of-form batters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and new inductees into the side like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan, could benefit from it.

“Australia can be salvaged because the pitches there are beautiful to bat on after the first dozen overs or so, after which the ball hardly deviates off the surface. To do that, though, the team needs to play a bit more on those kinds of pitches. Instead, we are now told that the warm-up game before the first Test has been called off. Wouldn’t it benefit youngsters like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and Sarfaraz (Khan), who are playing on Australian pitches for the first time, to get some runs under their belt and get a feel of what the pitches will be like?” wrote Gavaskar, in his column for Sportstar.

“And if they get out early, they can still get into the nets and practice against the throwdown specialist or the net bowlers. For bowlers like Akash Deep and Harshit Rana too, it’s essential to know the best length to bowl in Australia, as it’s different from India, and the best learning is in a proper match and not just net practice,” Gavaskar added.

Eight players in India’s squad for the first Test against Australia — Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna — have never played a senior Test match in Australia.

“Let’s just hope that good sense prevails, and even now, though it’s too late, some warm-up games can be arranged, even if it’s against the State A teams like Queensland A and Victoria A. These warm-up games will give the first-timers to Australia and youngsters good practice and a better chance to succeed,” Gavaskar added.

File photo of KL Rahul.© AFP