Rishabh Pant has been India’s leading batter in recent years, notably in overseas Tests. The Delhi wicketkeeper was instrumental in India’s dramatic 2-1 win against Australia in 2020-21.
Even in England, he played a match-winning knock which might turn out to be the biggest loss for the country in the ongoing World Test Championship final in Oval.
After four days of high-quality cricket, India and Australia face off for the Mace on the fifth and final day on Sunday.
India needs 280 more runs to win the final and their first World Tour Championship. Australia, on the other hand, has to pick 7 more wickets to win their first-ever WTC title.
Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja are the only players standing between Australia’s victory and India’s defeat.
On Day 5, Kohli (44) and Rahane (20) will resume India’s innings from 164 for 3. All eyes will be on the greatest chase master Virat Kohli to see if he can pull off another chase which looks daunting.
In 2022, Rishabh Pant, India’s wicketkeeper-batter, had another outstanding year with the bat, scoring 680 runs in 12 innings at an average of 61.81 and a strike rate of 90.90.
“Australia are lucky that Rishabh Pant is not there. He would have had a fair bit to say, not necessarily to the batters but certainly to his teammates. Rishabh if you are listening, we are missing you, get well soon,” said Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary cricketer during his commentary stint when Australia toured India in February 2023.
Rishabh Pant is the lone Indian cricketer picked to the 2022 ICC Men’s Test Team, which was announced on January 24.
KS Bharat has huge shoes to fill in
Kona Srikar Bharat, who has been playing the matches after Risabh got injured, will have his task cut out while facing Pat Cummins & Co on Day 5 in the WTC finale.
He is terribly out of touch and will be under the pump against the mighty. Although he has played every test in the absence of Rishabh Pant as India’s first-choice wicketkeeper batter, his stats have been ordinary.
In the Border Gavaskar Trophy, he scored 101 runs in 4 Test Matches with a paltry average of 20. Since his debut in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Bharat has played 5 tests and scored 106 runs with a highest score of 44.
Even in the 1st innings of the WTC final, he was clean-bowled by Scott Boland after scoring 5.
Several cricket experts have opined that it is next to impossible to even think of achieving the impact which Rishabh had in text cricket in the past 3 years.
Only 3 years into the game, he was already in the elite group of players who have played the game. He was constantly compared with the Aussie great Adam Gilchrist.
Another legendary batter from Australia Mathew Hayden holds the same opinion.”One of the big losses to Indian cricket right now is Rishabh Pant. If I was an Indian selector, I certainly go with the more dynamic wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan, he also adds that bit of swagger to the batting lineup and in the fielding unit as well,” Matthew Hayden told PTI.
Therefore, things have been extremely difficult for K S Bharat to emulate Pant. He has been under constant pressure trying to fill in the shoes of one of the greatest if not the greatest wicket-keeper batter of this generation in Test Cricket.
On the other hand, there is also a huge opportunity which he is getting because of the absence of Pant.
Bharat over Kishan; a big blunder?
KS Bharat has been playing the matches after Risabh got injured. However Ishan Kishan has that flamboyance and the exuberance of the youth in his favour.
There is a certain X factor in Ishan Kishan which can pose a threat to the mighty Aussies in the summit clash for becoming the world champions. Ishan Kishan could have been a much better option in the summit clash.
Rishabh Pant has been an absolute superstar of Indian Cricket, especially in the Test format over the past 2-3 years.
Be it in the overcast conditions of England or the bouncy tracks of Australia, the swinging and seaming conditions of New Zealand or the toughest conditions of South Africa, Rishabh Pant has conquered everywhere.
On numerous occasions India were in a precarious situation with 4 wickets down below 50 and then Rishabh Pant arrived at the crease with unbelievable swag and demolished the opposition.
“In Tests, today also Rishabh Pant is not only India’s but the world’s best wicketkeeper-batter. Not many top-order batters have played more dynamic and impactful knocks than him, forget about a keeper”, said Akash Chopra on his YouTube channel.
The audacity of this man is unthinkable. Sometimes he would reverse sweep James Anderson with the new ball. On other occasions, he will be dancing down the track to Nathan Lyon on a Day 5 track which is spinning viciously. It was Rishabh Pant and his heroics courtesy of which Team India is playing successive WTC Finals.
| 
