Rishabh Pant on Friday became the first-ever Indian wicket-keeper to score a Test century in Australia, while batting on Day 2 of the Sydney Test.
Pant came out to bat in the number seven position after the fall of Hanuma Vihari’s wicket and collaborated with Cheteshwar Pujara for a solid 89-run stand. After Pujara got out on 193, he and Ravindra Jadeja added 204 runs before Stumps.
The 21-year-old keeper reached his second Test century after tea with his eighth boundary, before accelerating the scoring with some improvised strokes to speed past 150 in 183 balls.
Pant has been on both ends of some friendly banter with Aussie skipper Tim Paine, and the Bharat Army used his new status as ‘best babysitter’ to cheer him on from the sidelines.
“We’ve got Pant. Rishab Pant. I just don’t think you’ll understand. He’ll hit you for a six. He’ll babysit your kids. We’ve got Rishab Pant.”
At one stage in the Boxing Day Test, Paine had raised Pant's omission from India's limited-overs squad and suggested he would have enough spare time as a result on his "holiday" to babysit his children and join one of the franchises in Australia's Big Bash Twenty20 league.
"You can come over for dinner. Do you babysit? I'll take my wife to the movies, you can look after the kids?" Paine was heard to say on the TV broadcast.
Pant responded by questioning Paine's appointment as Australia's "temporary captain" in the aftermath of a ball-tampering scandal in March that led to 12-month bans for then Australia captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner.
On New Year’s Day, Paine’s wife Bonnie Paine then posted photo of Pant holding their baby Charlie Paine with the caption ‘best babysitter’.
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