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Pant faced a total of 78 balls during his stay at the crease in the first inning and, with the help of three fours and one six, scored 37 runs.
Rishabh Pant hits Pat Cummins for a big six on the last ball of 42nd over. (Picture Credit: Screengrab)
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant came out to bat at No. 5 for India in the first innings of the ongoing first Test against Australia at Optus Stadium in Perth and entertained fans with his batting. The 27-year-old left-handed batter faced a total of 78 balls and, with the help of three fours and one six, scored 37 runs. He hammered India’s first six of the match on the last ball of the 42nd over, which was bowled by Australian captain Pat Cummins.
Pant lost his balance completely while playing the shot and fell to the ground, but there was enough power in his shot that the ball crossed the boundary line and added six runs to both Pant and India’s tally.
The video of Pant’s outrageous six was shared by Cricket Australia’s official website on X and, within no time it went viral on the internet.
Cummins, who had given a lifeline to Pant when he was batting on 26 runs, managed to take his wicket for the first time in Test cricket on the fifth ball of the 46th over. He was caught at the second slip by Steve Smith.
Before returning back to the pavilion, Pant added 48 runs for the seventh wicket with debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy, who top-scored for the visitors in the first inning by making 41 runs from 59 balls.
India could only manage to post a total of 150 runs in the first innings in 49.4 overs after Jasprit Bumrah opted to bat first. While Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal failed to open their account in the first inning of the maiden Test against Australia, Virat Kohli, who has more than 2000 runs to his name, was sent back to the pavilion for just five runs by Josh Hazlewood, who now also holds the record for taking most wickets by an Aussie pacer in Tests against India.
The right-arm pace finished the first innings with figures of four wickets for 29 runs in 13 overs, and two Indian batters each were sent back to the pavilion by Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Mitchell Marsh.
