Pant lights fuse as India lead Australia by 145 in 'hell of a Test'

An explosive Rishabh Pant slammed the secondfastest Indian Test halfcentury Saturday to drive the visitors to a 145run lead with four wickets left after an intense day two of the decisive fifth Test against Australia At the close in Sydney India were 1416 with Ravindra Jadeja on eight and Washington Sundar six after they dismissed Australia for 181 in reply to their firstinnings 185 Australia lead the series 21 with India needing to win at the Sydney Cricket Ground to retain the BorderGavaskar Trophy Pant signalled his intent by plundering a six on his first ball and reached 50 after just 29 deliveries with another big shot that cleared the ropes Only his 28ball halfcentury against Sri Lanka in 2022 was faster for India He was finally dismissed for 61 off 33 by Pat Cummins but Scott Boland was Indias main tormentor taking 442 Pants exploits set up an exciting finale amid doubts over whether skipper Jasprit Bumrah will take any further part He left the field after bowling one over following lunch and was driven from the SCG likely for hospital scans Bumrah was seen returning before stumps In his absence Prasidh Krishna 342 Mohammed Siraj 351 and Nitish Kumar Reddy 232 stepped up to fill the void and dismiss Australia after they resumed on 91 Its been a hell of a Test its been in fastforward mode said Australian allrounder Beau Webster who topscored with 57 and took a wicket With the amount of wickets I am just happy that I could contribute with the bat few catches and wicket there as well so really happyIts a real tussle he added We dont know what a good score is yet and obviously plenty on offer for the quicks Yashasvi Jaiswal got Indias second innings off with a bang crunching four boundaries from the first over by Mitchell Starc But the opening partnership was quickly shattered when KL Rahul was bowled for 13 by Boland whose line and length was impeccable He pounced again in his next over with a ball that jagged back to deliver the same punishment to Jaiswal 22 Virat Kohli desperately needed a big score for himself and the team but failed to deliver again perishing in the slips for six with his nemesis Boland once more the destroyer It was likely the 36yearold Kohlis last Test innings in Australia with India usually only visiting every four years Webster claimed Shubman Gill 13 as his first Test wicket but at the other end Pant was on a mission until an edge off Cummins carried to wicketkeeper Alex Carey Boland claimed his fourth to remove Reddy cheaply As many runs as possible would be great for us because we dont know what the wicket will be behaving like for us said Prasidh Theres no particular number in mind but as many as we can score We are ready to bowl them out for whatever Dramatic Australia lost Sam Konstas 23 Marnus Labuschagne two Travis Head four and Steve Smith 33 before lunch In front of his home crowd Smith looked set to become only the 15th batsman and fourth Australian to reach 10000 Test runs But he was made to wait five runs short after Prasidh enticed an edge to Rahul in the slips The home side resumed after a dramatic finalball wicket on Friday when Bumrah captaining the side after Rohit Sharma was rested had Usman Khawaja caught That Australian body blow came two balls after Bumrah and Konstas had a tense exchange The 19yearold Konstas padded up again on seven with new partner Labuschagne who didnt last with Bumrah getting the faintest edge to Pant A fearless Konstas slammed Bumrah to the boundary then produced an audacious reverse ramp shot for another four But the teenager overplayed his hand and fell to a Siraj outswinger attempting a drive that flew to Jaiswal at gully Siraj removed Head in the same over with another gem to leave Australia at 394 Smith and Webster who replaced the dropped Mitchell Marsh began the rebuild before Prasidh dismissed the veteran just before lunch and bowled Carey soon after their return India then took 34 with Reddy at the forefront as the tail collapsedWith agency inputs