Rahul Dravid on Rishabh Pant: Former head coach Rahul Dravid believes that the void created by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement in the Indian cricket team was immediately filled by Rishabh Pant who took to Test cricket like a ‘duck takes to water’. Aggressive wicketkeeper-batsman Pant, who was seriously injured in a car accident in December 2022, played a match-winning inning of 89 runs in the fourth Test at the Gabba and scored 274 runs in the series and was instrumental in India’s 2-1 victory on the Australia tour in 2020-21. played the part.
Dravid told Star Sports, “After Dhoni’s departure, you would have thought that perhaps it would take time for someone to replace him.” He said, “I am not saying that he has replaced him but certainly his performance in Test cricket has been fantastic, incredible performance.”
The former India captain and coach said, “To see Pant score 89 to win that Test match at the Gabba, when everything was at stake and the team was so weak, that kind of performance under that kind of pressure. Karna – What a special cricketer he is, he has taken to Test cricket like a duck to water.
On that tour, Pant scored at an average of 68.50 with the help of two half-centuries in five innings and India became the first Asian team to win two consecutive Test series in Australia. India has also taken a 1-0 lead in the current Test series by winning the first Test in Perth by 295 runs.
India have dominated Australia in recent times but Dravid’s 233-run innings in Adelaide in 2003 is a fan favourite. Regarding this innings, Dravid admitted that he still regrets not winning the series. Dravid said, “I think the way India has performed in the last two series in Australia – winning the series there means a lot.”
He said, “No matter how great my performance or India’s performance was, we could not win the series. We came close but on the last day in Sydney we could not get the wickets we needed.”
This 51-year-old player recalled the incident in which he accidentally ran out his captain Sourav Ganguly. Dravid admitted that this ‘mistake’ was his. He said, “I was thinking that I have got the captain run out. I should do something meaningful. It was completely my mistake to get Sourav run out. I accept it – it was my mistake.”
Dravid said, “But I think you are just trying to bat, you are just trying to build partnerships, you are just trying to reach the target.”
