Rishabh Pant in action on Day 3 of the fourth Test between India and Australia. (Screengrab)
In the spirit of Christmas, India continued to gift wickets to Australia at the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne, the latest being Rishabh Pant early on Day 3. Now, Pant playing audacious strokes is not something new. Especially in Test cricket, the world is used to his flamboyance. But what happened in the first session on Saturday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground would not go down as one of his better moments in Test cricket. In fact, it left former India captain Sunil Gavaskar absolutely fuming.
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“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” was Gavaskar’s reaction during his radio stint on ABC Sport.
Pant had started the day seemingly in control, looking measured in his approach. Even when he played the aggressive shot, it was high percentage. Like when he came down the track and lofted a length ball down long on for a four. And when he played the pull shot, he rolled his wrists to keep the ball down. There were a couple of streaky edges but nothing audacious…
Until the 56th over. With Scott Boland coming around the wicket, Pant wanted to target the area behind square on the leg side. So to a full delivery outside off stump, Pant played his ‘falling sweep’ but it was so badly timed, that the ball flew off the toe end of the bat and straight to Nathan Lyon at fine deep third.
Off the previous delivery, Pant had attempted a similar shot and ended up edging the ball onto his body.
“You’ve got two fielders there and you still go for that,” Gavaskar added. “You missed the previous shot, and look where you’ve been caught. That is throwing away your wicket. You cannot say that that’s your natural game. I’m sorry. That is not your natural game. That is a stupid shot. That is letting your team down badly. You have to understand the situation as well. He should not be going in that [India’s] dressing room, he should be going in the other dressing room.”
“Poor old Rishabh Pant on the ground watching his dismissal happen before his very eyes,” Mark Howard said on Fox Cricket. “With two out on the leg-side, it’s a risky shot,” Alyssa Healy added.
Greg Blewett on Triple M cricket said: “Seek some clarification as to what was going through (Pant’s) head at the time… It can’t just be do whatever you want.”
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