Rishabh Pant broke the record for the fastest Test half-century by a visiting player in Australia during the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Sydney Cricket Ground. On Saturday, Pant, who had been struggling to score runs in the series, turned it around on day two with an explosive innings. He reached 50 runs in just 29 balls, hitting a six off Australian bowler Mitchell Starc. This record surpassed the previous mark of 33 balls set by England’s John Brown in 1895 and West Indies’ Roy Fredericks in 1975. Pant’s performance also made him the second-fastest Indian to hit a half-century in Test cricket.
The record for the fastest Indian half-century still belongs to Pant, who scored 50 runs in just 28 balls against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru in 2022. In this match, Pant scored 61 runs off 33 balls, including four sixes and six fours. He also had an important 46-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja to help India reach a total over 100 runs.
Earlier, India’s top order batters did not take advantage after getting Australia out for only 181 runs. KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and Nitish Kumar Reddy all failed to make big scores as Scott Boland took four wickets, and debutant Beau Webster and Captain Pat Cummins each took one wicket, leaving India in a tough spot.
After Pant’s innings, the phrase “Stupid Stupid Stupid” began trending on Twitter. Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar criticized Pant for his poor shot selection in a previous Test against Australia. Despite this criticism, fans reacted humorously on social media, calling back to Gavaskar’s comments with phrases like “Stupid Stupid Stupid is the new Brave Brave Brave.”
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