IND vs AUS, 1st Test: Fans remember Rishabh Pant as India collapse for 109 in first innings

In the third test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy on Wednesday, team India chose to bat but fell to a meager score of 109 right after lunch, demonstrating why Australia is the best Test team in the world. The Australian spinners tested the Indian batters, but they struggled and wobbled on the Indore pitch.

Despite receiving two lifelines in Mitchell Starc’s first over, Indian captain Rohit Sharma gave Australian spinner Kuhnemann his wicket at the score of 12, and the rest of the team simply followed him to the pavilion. Before Todd Murphy dismissed him at the score of 22, Kohli was the top scorer for India. Up until lunch, the hosts were 84 for 7. Umesh Yadav’s two sixes helped India surpass the 100-run mark.

Seeing such a poor performance by Indian batters, fans recalled injured wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who is recovering from a car crash that took place in December last year. Netizens trolling Team India and remembering Pant created a slew of memes that surfaced on social media.

We all are missing Rishabh Pant, aren’t we? pic.twitter.com/UdSKf49DaO
— supremo ` (@hyperKohli) March 1, 2023

Don’t know why everytime I see Team India struggle against spin

I remember this man #RishabhPant pic.twitter.com/gGEj6TQkto

— Spider Pant(Fan Account) (@pant_spider) March 1, 2023

Matthew Kuhnemann took his maiden five-wicket haul for Australia, while Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy contributed three and one wickets, respectively.

In response, Australia looked comfortable, losing only one wicket for 71 runs before the second session ended. Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja were on the crease, keeping Australia in command. Ravindra Jadeja is India’s only wicket-taker, having dismissed Travis Head for 9 runs.