Australian opener Marcus Harris, who was part of the playing XI that faced a defeat by India at the Gabba in January this year, said that Rishabh Pant emerged as the standout batsman on the historic day for India.
He also commended Cheteshwar Pujara’s resistance in the face of brutal and fearsome bowling spells from the Australian pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Patt Cummins and likened his resilience to an ‘Australian.’
“The final day was amazing to watch. We were thinking the whole day if they would go for the runs or not. I think Rishabh played the best innings that day, but for Pujara to be copping an absolute barrage from everyone, it felt like he batted like an Australian, taking everything on the chest and getting on with it. The rest of the team just batted around him,” Harris told on the ‘Cricket Life Stories’ YouTube channel.
Going further in his admiration for Pant, Harris said that the wicketkeeper-batsman showed and stamped his quality on the game and proved why he was rated so highly.
He said that the Australians were disappointed losing a series to India, but also conceded that the Indian team under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane were too good for them at the end of the series.
“Rishabh Pant’s innings was unbelievable. Everyone says he has magic in him, and he has showed that a few times now. It was disappointing to lose the series but sometimes in cricket you just have tip your hat and say they were too good for us,” added.
Rishabh Pant had played a splendid innings and did hit the winning runs at the Gabba to win India the game and series. Pujara too had played a gutsy knock although he was attacked with a barrage of short-pitched bowling by the Aussies.