Rishabh Pant played an amazing inning, scoring the second-fastest half-century in Indian Test history on Saturday. This helped India gain a 145-run lead with four wickets still in hand during the crucial fifth Test against Australia. After day two in Sydney, India was at 141-6, with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar still batting. Australia had scored 181 runs, trailing behind India’s 185 in their first innings. With Australia leading the series 2-1, India needed to win to keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Pant started strong, hitting a six off his first ball and reached 50 runs in just 29 balls, which is only slower than his own record of 28 balls against Sri Lanka in 2022. He eventually scored 61 runs off 33 balls but was dismissed by Pat Cummins. Scott Boland was a major threat, taking 4 wickets for 42 runs. India’s captain, Jasprit Bumrah, had to leave the field after bowling just one over, likely for hospital tests, but was seen returning later.
Australian all-rounder Beau Webster, who scored 57 runs, said it was a fast-paced match, with many wickets falling. India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal got off to a good start with four boundaries in the first over, but KL Rahul and Jaiswal were dismissed soon. Virat Kohli needed a big score but fell for just six runs. Boland dismissed both Kohli and Nitish Kumar Reddy to finish with four wickets.
On the Aussie side, they lost four key players before lunch, including Steve Smith, who fell just five runs short of 10,000 Test runs after Prasidh caught him out. India bowled brilliantly, especially Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, and Nitish Reddy, as they took Australian wickets at crucial moments, leaving them struggling.
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