The old saying only mentions sticks and stones. Rishabh Pant might want it amended to include leather as well. He had a big red welt on his left arm where a back-of-a-length ball from Mitchell Starc had reared up off the Sydney pitch to strike him flush.
Thanks to his heroics on his last Border-Gavaskar tour, this one began with a lot of focus on him. Even otherwise, with the pitches in Australia getting spicier and the new Kookaburra ball making life more difficult for the top order, the impact of players like Pant and Travis Head, coming down the order, always had the potential to change the course of Test matches.
The conversation around Pant began to shift, though. The risks that he takes to play those unorthodox shots had begun to catch up with him. His scoop in the first innings in Melbourne, where he was trying to pick out the gap at fine leg – he got hit on his body the first time he tried it and was caught at deep third the very next ball when he went for it again – came in for a lot of criticism. Being dismissed by a part-time bowler in the second innings, when India were trying to save the Test, took that discourse to a whole other level. There were other batters not doing their job as well but his wicket was singled out.
With that as the backdrop, Pant walked in in Sydney and spent 98 balls being someone else. There were still glimpses of his disdain for that red ball. In the 43rd over, he helicoptered a cut shot. Those usually involve back and across movements. But he couldn’t be bothered. He just trusted his hand-eye coordination and then, at the point of contact, let his wrists go for a whirl, and the ball skipped away behind point. Under normal circumstances, that’s what a Pant highlights reel would be all about.
These weren’t normal circumstances. His application had come under question. During optional trainining, reserve wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel had a long net, large parts of it right alongside Pant, and he looked quite good. It took a while for Pant to become a regular in India’s Test team – largely because his keeping needed to improve; his batting was already there – and since then he’s been among the first names on the sheet. Melbourne cast doubt over his temperament. Sydney almost became the scene of his redemption. He took so many body blows. Two back-to-back in the gut. Then another in the gut which left him winded enough he went down to the floor. One right on the side of the helmet, which looked awful. He tried to get out of the way but that bouncer just kept following him. Starc looked extremely concerned and wouldn’t leave Pant’s side until he got a nod of the head from the batter.
“I think this is the first time I’ve gotten hit so much,” Pant said, “But you know in cricket you can’t plan anything, so everything happened for the first time for sure at some point of time in your career, but that was me today.”
India were showing bravery. They were trying to correct their mistakes. Virat Kohli abandoned his open stance to be more side-on, which in theory would reduce the chances of him playing away from his body because his alignment was putting his front shoulder closer to balls outside off stump. They tried to rely on their defensive skills. Ravindra Jadeja tried to leave as many as he could. They tried to play the situation and ignore their natural instincts.
As much as they did all this, though, they seemed to gain little. They still collapsed from 57 for 2 to 148 for 8. The only difference was, it was a slow-burn collapse spread out across 41 overs. It’s back to their bowlers to bail India out, and it is possible that they could. There are frailties in the Australian batting order and the pitch is offering plenty of help.
“I feel it was a little tough pitch,” Pant said. He believed India’s 181 was not quite a par score but was close to it. “The ball was doing off the wicket quite a bit especially after the end of second session I would say.”
India did expect batting to be difficult when they won the toss and chose to put a total on the board. What they didn’t expect was the consistency of movement and the extra bounce. It gave them zero breathers. When they tried to manufacture shots, it backfired.
Shubman Gill wanted to make sure it was the last ball before lunch so he went down to do some gardening. Steven Smith at slip saw that and said, “This is bull****. Oi, let’s play”. Gill turned around and replied, “You take your time, Smithy, nobody says anything to you.” Then he faced up to Nathan Lyon and got caught by Smith at slip. Kohli’s side-on stance seemed to be helping until once again Scott Boland produced a ball that he nicked.
India went to stumps in a rage. The penultimate ball of the day sparked a confrontation. Usman Khawaja asked Jasprit Bumrah to wait. Sam Konstas got involved with a couple of words from the non-strikers’ end. Bumrah didn’t like it. The two of them had to be separated by the umpires. The last ball of the day produced a wicket. Khawaja was out caught, and Bumrah whipped around and walked towards Konstas. He knew he couldn’t get in his face. He held his emotions in check and then vented them when Konstas walked off. Veins popping. India haven’t been a happy team on this tour. They’ve felt antagonised. They had come to Sydney damned for all that they did. Sydney damned them when they didn’t, too. That last ball wicket, though, felt powerful. All 11 players ran up to their captain bristling with life once more.
