New Delhi: Rishabh Pant made a mark in the India-Australia Tests Down Under during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The wicketkeeper had played a match-winning knock of 89 runs in the final Test to help the visitors to a 2-1 series win.
His fearless approach garnered praises from Australian pacer Pat Cummins who believes that Pant is a class player and knows his game really well. He also said that the Australian side would have their plans ready for Pant when India and Australia lock horns again.
“It is kind of a flip of the coin, because while Pujara was there, the game was not moving too quickly, but you know once Rishabh walks in, it is going to start moving quickly either way. It is one of those exciting times, I find, where you hope it works in your favour, but if it does not, it is going to be a bit of fun for the next hour or so, either way,” Cummins told ESPN Cricinfo.
“He is a class player, he takes the game on and to the outside, it might look like it is quite slapdash, but he knows his game really well, he knows when to attack and what his scoring areas are, so before the next series, we will need to spend a bit of time on that,” he added.
Pant has been in a good form as he recently scored 91 runs in the first innings of the first Test against England, however, India went on to lose that Test by 227 runs.
“My initial thought was that he was the brick wall, so once we opened up his end, I thought that still made all three results in the game possible, winning, losing, or a draw. But it was satisfying too: before the series, once we knew Virat Kohli was going to miss the last three Tests, Pujara was the big wicket for me. He was the deciding factor in the series a couple of years earlier – he was their rock in the middle order – and I felt a big part of the series battle would be played out against him,” said Cummins.
