Pant comes to party with ton, India deflate Australia at SCG
India buried a dispirited Australia under a mountain of runs with Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja adding a dash of strokeful aggression to the sedate proceedings in the fourth and final Test here Friday.India put together their second highest team total on Australian soil, piling up 622/7 declared on the second day of the match. Their highest team total, 705/7 declared, was also incidentally scored at this venue, in 2004.In reply, Australia were 24/0 in the 10 overs that the deflated side had to face after toiling all day on the field.
This was after series top-scorer Cheteshwar Pujara missed out on what would have been a well-deserved double hundred, ending at 193 off 373 balls, adding 63 runs to his overnight score. Pant became the first Indian wicketkeeper to claim a hundred Down Under with an unbeaten 159-run effort that came off 189 balls on the second day of the match. This was his second Test hundred, the first being in England earlier this year.The Australian bowlers were also tormented by Jadeja (81) and the home team’s desperation for a breakthrough resulted in even top-order batsman Usman Khawaja being pressed into the attack.Pant, who struck 15 fours and a six, put on 204 runs for the seventh wicket with Jadeja.For Australia, Usman Khawaja was dropped on nought by Pant off Mohammed Shami (0-9) in the third over, and he was unbeaten on 5 runs, with Marcus Harris (19 not out) keeping him company.Post tea, the hosts simply waited for the declaration to come as India crossed 500 in the 149th over.There was no signal forthcoming from the balcony and Pant and Jadeja kept batting on. The 21-year-old Pant then reached his hundred off 137 balls, and became the first Indian keeper-batsman to score a Test century in Australia.India continued batting on, seemingly a ploy to break the Australian spirit, with Jadeja scoring his 10th Test half-century off 89 balls.The duo scored aggressively and brought up their 200-run partnership off 221 balls, the highest for India’s seventh wicket against this opposition, after Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha’s 199 in Ranchi (2017)..
