Rishabh Pant fondly recollects his chat with Rohit Sharma while celebrating the third anniversary of Indias remarkable win against Australia at Brisbanes Gabba in 2021.
Team India achieved an incredible victory by successfully chasing down 328 runs on the final day etching one of the most remarkable underdog stories in cricket history. Pants exceptional performance with the bat scoring a brilliant 89* off 138 deliveries against a formidable Aussie attack added to the magic of this historic win.
In an interview with Star Sports, Pant remembered that he wasn’t as thrilled as the other Indian players, which is what prompted Rohit Sharma to speak with him.
“I remember what Rohit Sharma said. A lot of people told me special things, but Rohit’s words, I remember it well. He was seeing my reaction. Everybody was happy, but he was not seeing me as excited as everyone else. He told me ‘I don’t think you realise what you have done.”
“I told him ‘yeah, we won a match, we won a series here for the 2nd time. He told me ‘when you quit cricket, you will understand the importance of this innings because you don’t know what you have done. Then I realised what I had done.”
Rishabh Pant
The triumph enabled India win back-to-back Test series Down Under and put an end to Australia’s 32-year Test match winning streak at the Gabba.
Beyond just the end result the series is cherished for Indias incredible display of resilience. From the embarrassing low of being bundled out for 36 in the opening Test in Adelaide to orchestrating a remarkable comeback and securing the series 21 despite the absence of key players in the subsequent three matches it will unquestionably be engraved in the annals of Indian crickets history.
“I was conscious about not getting over-excited” – Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant went into further detail about why he wasn’t feeling very excited during and after the Brisbane Test victory. In addition to feeling humbled by being in the middle when winning runs were made, he believed that he was not a permanent member of the Indian team in any of the three forms.
It is noteworthy that Pant did not feature in the Indian playing eleven that lost badly in Adelaide during the first Test match.
“I didn’t know how to react. I was playing in the middle, I was conscious about not getting over-excited. Yes, there was a lot happiness around. It was a very important match for me because I was not playing ODI and T20I. Even in Tests, my place wasn’t certain.”
Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant Added:
“I was like ‘how can this happen?’. I have expectations from myself to do well, to win matches for the team. But I didn’t play the first match. It was like ‘dream-come-true’ to win the match for the team. I wanted that feeling. “I was telling myself this. That was my mindset, I had belief in myself at a time when not many believed in me.”
Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant stepped into Wriddhiman Sahas shoes during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne marking the beginning of a remarkable journey in the redball format. His performance was instrumental in Indias draw in the third Test in Sydney laying the groundwork for an extraordinary triumph in Brisbane.
Prior to his tragic accident in December 2022, Pant was perhaps India’s most useful Test batsman overall. He has averaged nearly 44 with the bat in his 33 Test matches thus far, with five hundreds and eleven fifties.