Rishabh Pant slams 22 in last over of play: Races to 100 in 73 balls

Rishabh Pant and Hanuma Vihari set up win for India in the warm-up match. (Screengrab/cricket.com.au)

Rishabh Pant raced to century in the day’s final over to cap a dominant day for India’s batters in their final tune-up innings before the Test series

Pant who blasted 22 from Jack Wildermuth’s final over of the night to reach a remarkable century (off just 73 deliveries) from the final ball in scenes strikingly dissimilar to Steve Waugh’s memorable Ashes ton at the same ground.

I am so happy for you ,reply to all haters from @RishabhPant17 bat Brilliant ???? by you and you are best WK batsman in India right now. You will play all 4 tests vs Aus. #RishabhPant #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/6v9i8Yl4cC

— Cricket.Addictor_18 (@cricaddict_18) December 12, 2020

Well played champ @RishabhPant17 , happy to see scoring a century and want to see scoring ???? in Test match . @BCCI please pick him ODI , T20 toooo. #AUSvIND #RishabhPant pic.twitter.com/qzFH8M1jBg

— Pachipulusu Prudhvi (@PachipulusuP) December 12, 2020

Needing 19 runs to reach his century when Jack Wildermuth commenced the second evening’s final over, Pant clobbered him for 4, 4, 6, 4, 4, to remain unbeaten on a blistering 103 off only 73 balls.

Overall, he hit nine fours and six sixes.

India scorecard vs Australia A. ( Screengrab)

In the final session of play, Pant’s aggressive approach paid dividends as he smashed the Australia A bowlers to all corners of the Sydney Cricket Ground, the southpaw making a strong case for himself for the wicketkeeper’s job in Adelaide ahead of Test specialist Wriddhiman Saha.

To cite an example of his power-hitting, Pant swept one over the cow corner for a six, leaving Nic Maddinson to search for the ball among the rows of chairs at the SCG.

At the close of play, India were strongly placed at 386/4 with an overall lead by 472 runs, having bundled out the home team out for a paltry 108 in their first innings on Friday.

Rishabh Pant did not play the first three-day warm-up match and according to former India opener Aakash Chopra, the southpaw was also last in the queue on the list of Indian wicket-keepers at the moment. However, with this knock the debate surrounding his selection will surely spark up.