Sydney/IBNS: India's wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant toyed with the mighty Australian bowling unit at a time his teammates were struggling to combat the opponent seamers at SCG in Sydney on Saturday.

Pant, who was earlier criticised by cricket experts for lack of 'game awareness', slammed the second fastest Test fifty by an India in the fifth and final match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.

The southpaw, who came out to bat when India were reeling at 78-4, added 61 from 33 balls helping the visitors to extend the lead beyond 100.

Until he was dismissed by Australia captain Pat Cummins, Pant hit 6 fours and 4 sixes that entertained the packed stadium.

Cricket great Sachin Tendulkar praised the young cricket star for his explosive batting sharing a post on social media.

Tendulkar wrote on X, "On a wicket where majority of the batters have batted at a SR of 50 or less, @RishabhPant17's knock with a SR of 184 is truly remarkable. He has rattled Australia from ball one. It is always entertaining to watch him bat. What an impactful innings!"

Riding on the pace bowling unit, India bowled out Australia for only 181 to secure a thin lead of four runs in the first innings of the fifth and final Test.

After Bumrah left the field, Prasidh Krishna (3/42), Mohammed Siraj (3/51) and Nitish Reddy (2/32) took over the duty to dismiss the hosts within the tourists' score of 185.

Beau Webster scripted his dream debut scoring a hard-earned 57 from 105 balls, recovering Australia from 39-4 in alliance with veteran Steve Smith, who was dismissed in the slip cordon by Krishna just before lunch for a solid 33.

Bumrah, who picked Usman Khawaja on the last delivery of day one, removed Marnus Labuschagne early on day two.

Young batter Sam Konstas, who resumed his attack after seeing off some balls patiently, was caught in the slip cordon by KL Rahul bowled by Siraj for 23 from 38 balls.

Siraj drew more blood by dismissing in-form Travis Head (four runs) in the same over hurting Australia badly.