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Rishabh Pant top-scored for India during the tour with 274 runs from five innings and also hit the inning boundary that sealed the series in their favour.
Cheteshwar Pujara (left) and Rishabh Pant were India’s top performers on their previous Australia tour. (BCCI Photo)
India’s Australia tour of 2020-21 will is fondly remembered for how the wounded tourists stormed to a 2-1 series win despite losing a host of their first-choice stars during the series. And not to forget the horror show of the opening Test in Adelaide that saw India being shot out for 36 in an innings – their lowest ever total in the format. With Virat Kohli leaving the tour due to personal engagements and several players picking up injuries as the series progressed, India somehow managed to first pull themselves on level terms by winning in Melbourne, kept the relentless Australia pacers at bay in Sydney to force a draw then then breached the fortress Gabba with a stunning chase on the final day of the tour.
Rishabh Pant played a key role in the historic triumph with his attacking instincts pushing Indian on the route to a monumental victory. He’s often hailed as the hero of the tour but for the then Australia captain Pat Cummins, it was Cheteshwar Pujara who won India the series thanks to his stunning defensive effort as he took multiple blows to his bodies to prevent the innings from unraveling and ensure other batters around him were able to attack.
“What I do remember, a lot of people talk about Rishabh Pant in the last series in Australia, but the guy who won them the series was Pujara,” Paine said on the Grade Cricketer’s Podcast. “He wore us down, he wore our fast bowlers down. He kept getting hit on the body, but he kept getting up. There is still place for that in Test cricket.”
Pujara has since lost his place in the India playing XI with the Indian selectors preferring to give chances to youngsters. The team will again embark on another tour of Australia that starts from the third week of November but the tourists appear a little vulnerable given their historic Test series defeat at home to New Zealand and their pace attack which will be heavily reliant on Jasprit Bumrah since Mohammed Shami hasn’t made the cut due to fitness concerns.
Paine feels that should Bumrah pick up an injury during the tour, it will be all over for India. “Shami is going to be a huge difference. Bumrah – there is so much on his shoulders. If he gets hurt, then it’s curtains for me,” Paine said.
