As India suffered another batting collapse on Thursday against Australia in the 3rd Test at Indore, a section of fans in the stands started a chant for Rishabh Pant. Cries of "Rishabh Pant" and "Gabba" filled the air as the fans chanted for the player who was adjudged man of the match against Australia in 2020/21 in the 4th Test at the Gabba. Pant, who had suffered a horrific accident in the wee hours of December 30, would surely have played in this Test series against Australia if not for the aforementioned mishap. Chants of Rishabh pant in the stadium 🥺 pic.twitter.com/wx0L33c6oB— Rishabh pant fans club (@rishabpantclub) March 2, 2023 Standing as his replacement, keeper-batter Srikar Bharat has had a series to forget with his scores in 3 Tests being 8, 6, 23, 17 and 3 in 5 innings. Pant had the accident after his car collided with a road divider on the Delhi-Dehradun highway. The star India wicket-keeper batter was lucky to survive serious injuries due to his alertness, jumping off his Mercedes in the nick of time as the car went up in flames after hitting the divider. In the match on Thursday, Nathan Lyon grabbed eight wickets as India were bundled for 163 in 60.3 overs in the second innings on day two. The hosts are staring at a big defeat as Steve Smith's side has been set a target of just 76 runs to win the Test and secure a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Lyon spun a web around India batters, returning figures of 23.3-1-64-8. Cheteshwar Pujara batted resolutely but fell after making 59 runs. The veteran batter's departure, with Smith taking a blinder of a catch at leg slip off the bowling of Lyon, virtually ended India's resistance. Umesh Yadav lasted just two balls, caught by Cameron Green in the deep for a duck as India's batting went down without a whimper. India are leading the series 2-0 having won in Nagpur and New Delhi.
