Former Australian skipper Ian Chappell believes one of the big difference in the ongoing Test series is the absence of Rishabh Pant. The Indian wicket-keeper bat was ruled out of the series after his horrific car accident.
Pant has an immaculate Test record against Australia and his services have been deeply missed by the home team in the ongoing series. The left-hander is known to turn the match on its head with his blistering batting.
Pant has a brilliant record while playing against Australia in Test matches. The pugnacious southpaw has scored some match-winning knocks against the Aussies in red-ball cricket. The left-hander’s best Test score came against Australia when he scored 159 runs in the Sydney Test match in the 2018-19 tour.
Subsequently, he scored a match-saving knock of 97 runs in the Sydney Test on the 2020-21 tour. Furthermore, he had scored an unbeaten knock of 89 runs in the historic Gabba Test on the same tour.
The Delhi player has scored 2271 runs in 33 Test matches at an average of 43.67 and he has been one of India’s best Test batters in the last couple of seasons.
“One of the big differences is that there is no Rishabh Pant in this Indian side. They have started to see how important Rishabh Pant is to the Indian side,” said Chappell while talking to ESPN Cricinfo.
On the other hand, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria also concurred with Ian Chappell while speaking on his YouTube Channel.
“If you would ask Rishabh Pant how to bat against these spinners, he would tell you to use your feet, get to the pitch of the ball, and smash the ball a long way. Had he been there, he wouldn’t have spared Lyon and Kuhnemann. He would have forced them to change their lengths by attacking them. Indian batters have been disappointing,” said Kaneria.
Australia won the third Test match at Indore by nine wickets and it was a fine comeback from the visitors. The tourists were able to come up with a collective show after fine performances from Matthew Kuhnemann, Usman Khawaja, and Nathan Lyon.
The series’ fourth and final Test match will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad from March 9.
