The three-wicket win came in the final session of the match, led by Rishabh Pant‘s 89 not out, but equally stellar knocks of 91 and 56 by Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara, respectively, in the top order as the visitors faced a tall ask chasing a target of 328 runs.
Rishabh Pant Relives his Match-Winning Innings at The Gabba | Watch Along with the Superstar
Reliving that historic day, Pant opened up in a show on Star Sports to share some of the behind-the-scenes stories that unfolded after the match.
“Virat (Kohli) bhai and Ravi (Shastri) bhai always used to say that we have to win overseas to be the best touring side; that was our thought as a team,” said Pant talking about the former India skipper Kohli and former coach Shastri, who were part of that historic series.
Kohli had to return home after the first Test for the birth of his child, and Ajinkya Rahane took over captaincy duty.
Pant said he was pretty normal after hitting the winning runs at the Gabba, a stright drive for a four at long-off. It was only when Rohit Sharma told him about the magnitude of his effort that he could realize its importance.
“Rohit bhai said ‘tujhe nahi pata tune kya kara hai’ (you don’t know what you have done). I said ‘Bhaiya match hi to jeeta hai, kya hua, series jeet gaye doosri baar’ (we have just one a match and a second series win in Australia). Rohit bhai said ‘jab tu cricket chhorega tab tujhe samajh aayegi iss innings ki importance kyuki tujhe khud nahi pata tune kara kya hai (when you retire then only you will understand the importance of this knock because you don’t know yet what you have done’,” said Pant on the show.
It was only the second Test series victory for India on Australian soil, following up from the maiden triumph on the 2018-19 tour.
