Pant slows down & with it his trademark impact

Curbing instincts, batter prolonged stay at the crease but runs dried up

- GOMESH S @ Sydney

RISHABH Pant was lying down in the middle of Sydney Cricket Ground. He was being attended to by the physio in front of the sellout record crowd on day one of the fifth and final Test between India and Australia on Friday. The Indian keeper-batter had been hit twice off Australia captain Pat Cummins' bowling on consecutive deliveries in the 49th over. The first one was a short delivery that he tried to duck and got hit on the shoulder and the second one hit him in the abdomen. Pant batting on 26 off 74 balls at that time was visibly in pain and had no choice but to call for some medical attention.

It had been that kind of a day for the 27-year-old. He was first hit in the back arm while trying to defend Mitchell Starc and then came the blow to the helmet from the pacer. It was not the usual Pant who had come to Australia twice before and dominated them in such a way that fans wrote songs about it. This was different. He had been struggling to spend some time in the middle. The underlying issue that had largely gone unaddressed is that he had come into bat much earlier than he did in the previous tours thanks to multiple top-order collapses. But the focus was more on how he had been getting out. He has been sticking to his unorthodox methods while trying to take the game head-on and falling short. And it had come at a cost.