Rishabh Pant is rooting for Team India in the time of adversity as Rohit Sharma's brigade looks to avoid follow-on at the hands of Australia in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final at the Oval. Pant was ruled out of the WTC final against Australia as he is recovering from severe injuries which he sustained in the horrific car crash last year.
India are reeling at 151/5 and trailing Australia by a massive 318 runs with three days to go. When India needed them the most, the likes of Rohit Sharma (15), Virat Kohli (14), Shubman Gill (13), Cheteshwar Pujara (14), Ravindra Jadeja (48) fizzled under pressure to leave the Men in Blue in shambles. Ajinkya Rahane (29 off 71; not out) and Srikar Bharat (5 off 14; not out) are the only batters who are still intact on the crease and are shouldering India's hopes to keep them alive in the WTC final.
Pant's special post for Team India
Meanwhile, Pant is keeping a track on every happening at the Kennington Oval. India's star wicketkeeper-batter took to Instagram to share a story in which he can be seen watching watching the match from the comfort of home. Pant posted a ‘finger crossed’ emoji and a ‘heart’ to show his support for reeling Team India.
Notably, despite playing lesser matches than his teammates, Pant is the third-highest run-getter in WTC 2021-2023 cycle. In a total of 12 matches, the 25-year-old amassed 868 runs at an average of 43.40 riding on two centuries and five fifties as 146 remained his best individual score.
Also in 24 WTC matches overall, Pant has 1575 runs against his name in which he cracked three tons and nine half-centuries.
But marred by a fatal car accident he couldn't feature in the ongoing WTC 2023 final. However Srikar Bharat came in as Pant's replacement in India's WTC final squad.
Talking about the match, Australian batters posted a mountainous total of 469 for India riding on brilliant centuries from Steve Smith (121). After putting up a show with the bat, Australian pestered India batters with their exceptional bowling. After losing Rohit, Gill cheaply, India lost the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli as well in the third session. While Ravindra Jadeja infused life into India’s first innings with his 48-run knock, the final score was 151/5 with a mountain of 318 runs ahead of them. Ajinkya Rahane and Srikar Bharat on Day 3 will face an uphill task to avoid follow on by scoring 119 more runs.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK
'Shubman will learn, but Pujara…': Ravi Shastri lashes out at India's Test specialist for woeful shot selection on WTC final Day 2
Record Alert: Sunil Narine enters history books, completes 500 T20 wickets in Surrey's victory in T20 Blast
'India cannot win WTC final from here': Ricky Ponting feels Rohit Sharma's brigade can't make a comeback
Rohit Sharma's poor run in ICC finals continues, fails in ultimate Test as Australia gain advantage
