Rishabh Pant Is An Exceptional Talent As He Scores 97 And 89 Not Out: Steve Smith

Steve Smith, Australian batsman on Tuesday described wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant as an “exceptional talent” after the Indian youngster powered India to a historic three-wicket win in the series-deciding fourth Test with a breathtaking unbeaten 89.

India chased down a mammoth target of 328, with Rishabh Pant playing a key role with his 138-ball unbeaten knock to hand his side a 2-1 series win and Australia their first defeat in 32 years at the Gabba.

Steve Smith: Rishabh Pant Is An Exceptional Talent As He Took The Game On

Promoted to no. 5, Rishabh Pant played aggressively from the outset and held his nerve to hit the winning runs as India reached 329 for 7. His knock included nine fours and a six as he stuck to his natural game in the high-pressure closing stages.

“He (Pant) is an exceptional talent as we’ve seen, he played a pretty amazing innings on a day-five wicket. He took the game on, played in his areas,” Smith told cricket.com.au.

“We’ve seen in short-form cricket in particular how good he is and where he can hit the ball and that was a pretty special innings today.”

Rishabh Pant was highest run-getter for India and 3rd highest run-scorer overall in this Test series with 274 runs in 3 Tests averaging 68.5. He was omitted from white ball limited-overs squad but made it count in Tests with two fifties in consecutive Tests at Sydney and Brisbane. His 97 at Sydney ensured a draw while unbeaten 89 at Brisbane saw India winning the series.

Steve Smith: Australian Bowlers Worked Hard And Bowled Lot Of Overs

Steve Smith, who scored 36 and 55 in his two innings, said the Australian bowling attack of pacers Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and spinner Nathan Lyon gave their best but admitted that they could not finish the job in the end.

“They worked really hard obviously and bowled lots of overs. Unfortunately, both in Sydney and here they weren’t able to finish the job for us but they’re all great bowlers. They work incredibly hard and hopefully they can back up in a few weeks’ time for us in (Australia’s Test tour of South) Africa and we can have some success over there,” he said.

Steve Smith was 2nd highest run-getter with 313 runs averaging 44.71 in 4 Tests had started poorly in 1st and 2nd Tests but scored 131 and 81 at Sydney to bag MOM. Pat Cummins, the MOS, picked 21 wickets while Josh Hazlewood picked 17, Mitchell Starc 11 and Nathan Lyon only 9. Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon’s average were more than 40 as the Indian batsmen played against them extremely well especially in 2nd, 3rd and 4th Tests.