New Delhi: Rahul Dravid often wondered how India could fill up the void created by MS Dhoni’s retirement from Test cricket but Rishabh Pant has certainly allayed his concerns.
Dhoni announced a sudden retirement from red-ball cricket in 2014 during the third Test of a four-match away series against Australia, paving the way for Virat Kohli to be named the next all-format skipper.
Pant has since come along and made the keepr-batter position his own, hitting a match-winning 89 in the fourth Test in Brisbane in India’s 2-1 triumph in Australia in 2020-21.
Pant scored two half centuries at 68.50 in five innings as India become the first Asian team to win consecutive Test series in Australia.
The left hander has since suffered a horrific car accident in December 2022, which forced him away from action for over a year. He returned to the national team during the T20 World Cup in June and is currently in Australia for the ongoing five-match series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“It’s hard to imagine that, after Dhoni left, you felt there might be some time for someone to come in and replace him. I’m not saying he’s replaced him, but certainly in Test cricket, his performances have been absolutely sensational, an incredible performance,” Dravid told Star Sports.
“Watching Rishabh there and chasing to get 89 to win that Test match at the Gabba, with everything on the line and such a depleted side, to put in that kind of performance under that kind of pressure — truly sensational… What a special cricketer he’s been. He’s just taken to Test cricket like a duck to water. It’s just phenomenal.”
The 27-year-old scored 37 runs off 78 balls in the first innings at Perth as India won the opening Test by 295 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
‘Was a pleasure batting with Laxman’
While reminiscing about his playing days. Dravid, who scored a memorable 233 at Adelaide in 2003, said he still regrets not winning the four-match series that ended 1-1.
“However great my performances or India’s performances were, we couldn’t actually win that series. We came close, but we couldn’t get the wickets on the final day in Sydney that we needed.
“The last two teams that have gone to Australia have done that, and that’s a fantastic achievement — a terrific achievement — and there have been some absolutely sensational performances right through those.”
Dravid put on a huge partnership with VVS Laxman and took India from 85/4 to 556, having also put on a similar mammoth partnership in a famous victory in Kolkata in 2001.
“The thing with Laxman and me is that we had batted together a couple of really big partnerships before that. We did it once in Kolkata in 2001 and even in a domestic game when we first played South Zone against West Zone,” the former India coach said.
“So, we had kind of batted a lot together and built this partnership. Not that we were thinking about that when we got out there, but I think the idea was really just to bat and try and build partnerships, stitch something together.”
“It’s always nice batting with Laxman as well… Because he’s just a beautiful player to watch and such a lovely player. He really attacked back, which, in some ways, complemented me quite well in how we went about our innings,” the ex-skipper recalled.
Rishabh Pant scored two half centuries at 68.50 in five innings as India become the first Asian team to win consecutive Test series in Australia in 2020-21. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
