IND vs AUS: 'He Has Rattled Australia' - Tendulkar Lauds 'Impactful' Knock From Rishabh Pant in Sydney Test

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India great Sachin Tendulkar lauded Rishabh Pant for his 'impactful' innings against Australia in the ongoing fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney on Saturday (January 4).

Pant, who played a very conservative knock in the first innings, took the attack to Australian bowlers right from the very first ball and smashed the second fastest fifty by reaching the landmark in just 29 balls.

The Indian wicketkeeper-batter scored 40 off 98 balls in a cautious approach in the first innings after he had received lot of criticism for the manner in his dismissals in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last week.

With India in a spot of bother at 59/3, the 27-year-old scored a breathtaking 61 off just 33 balls in the second innings of the Sydney Test to take the lead past 100. Pant hit Mitchell Starc for two sixes after he had hit Scott Boland and Beau Webster for a six each earlier in the innings.

Pant opened his account with a maxium down the ground off Boland, who had just then dismissed Virat Kohli. After making his intentions known and straying away from the cautious approach, Pant took on the aggressive route till he fell to Pat Cummins in the 23rd over.

His explosive and fearless knock, featuring six fours and four sixes, earned praise from Tendulkar, who said Pant's innings has rattled the Australians and the legend also was in awe of the difference in strike rate of the Indian wicketkeeper compared to the other batters in the Sydney Test.

"On a wicket where majority of the batters have batted at a SR of 50 or less, @RishabhPant17's knock with a SR of 184 is truly remarkable. He has rattled Australia from ball one. It is always entertaining to watch him bat. What an impactful innings!," Tendulkar posted on X.

Despite Pant's quickfire knock, the Test match is still evenly poised as India only lead by 146 runs heading into day 3 of the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Trailing 1-2 in the series, Team India will aim for a win to retain the BGT.