Rishabh Pant is the kind of character sport needs, and he showed up his jovial self once again on Sunday when he surprised the legendary former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist just before the start of play on Day 3 of the pink-ball Test between India and Australia in Adelaide.
Walking up quietly behind Gilchrist, who was standing at the edge of the boundary, Pant put his hands on Gilchrist’s eyes to catch him napping.
“He caught me by surprise there,” Gilchrist said later with a smile, looking at the incident that was caught on camera. “I didn’t know who that was behind me.”
Interestingly, Pant’s game is in the Gilchrist mode, batting aggressively like the Australian used to do during his heydays and being swift behind the stumps with gloves on.
Taking a cue from that while looking at the footage, former India coach and allrounder Ravi Shastri commented: “It’s a wicketkeepers’ union.”
India, meanwhile, suffered a crushing 10-wicket defeat in the second Test at Adelaide, as their remaining five wickets fell inside the first session itself, followed by Australia wrapping up a comprehensive win to level the five-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy at 1-1.
India, who made 180 in their first innings, conceded a 157-run first innings lead after Australia replied with 337 all out, thanks to Travis Head’s aggressive knock of 140 off 141 balls.
India then folded up for 175 in their second innings, leaving the Aussies with just 19 runs required to win.
The third Test begins on December 14 in Brisbane.
