Justin Langer, the former Australian head coach for once, was glad that Rishabh Pant was in his team and not in the opposition dugout. Langer has suffered a lot during his stint with the Australian team during the 2018/19 and 2020/21 tours with the wicketkeeper-batter lighting up the series launching attacks on the opposition bowling attack multiple times but now that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the IPL franchise he is in charge of, picking Pant up at the IPL auction, he hoped that he'd be mates with him.
"Rishabh Pant has haunted me the most from the last two series," Langer recalled on commentary during the first day's play of the second Test between India and Australia in Adelaide. "Now a week ago, I hope he’s my favourite person in the world with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) picking him up. We've got him. Now he’s my mate, not my nemesis,” Langer said.
Pant, who was released by the Delhi Capitals was bid by the Super Giants at INR 20.75 crore. The Capitals used an RTM for him at that very amount before LSG moved the bid up by INR 6.25 crore to make Pant the most expensive player in IPL history, just a little ahead of Shreyas Iyer, who was acquired by the Punjab Kings for INR 26.75 crore ahead of him.
Pant showed a few glimpses of what he can do with the bat but was dismissed for 21 by Australian skipper Pat Cummins. Pant hit a couple of boundaries during his innings and played 35 balls but couldn't stay for long.
Ultimately, India were bowled out for 180 after winning the toss and opting to bat. Nitish Reddy and R Ashwin's counter-attacking knocks at the end played a key role in India getting to 180 as the visitors were in danger of falling below 150 at 109/6.
