New Delhi: Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma has commented on the form of Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant after losing the fourth Test against Australia by 184 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Monday.
Pant has received flak for his unorthodox batting style in the recent times, it is the same one which earned him plaudits from pundits for being audacious at one stage in his career. His poor execution of the reverse lap shot earned him drawbacks from the circles of cricket experts. Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar couldn’t hold himself from rebuking the player’s lack of application in the game.
The lashing went till a certain extent that the former Indian batter went out to call the shot ‘stupid’ not once but three times in an infuriated manner. The Delhi-based player once again fell during India’s 340-run chase in the Boxing-Day Test.
He went to play the pull shot against Australian off-spinner Travis Head just into the start of the third session. As a result, he was caught near the long-on region by Mitchell Marsh. Pant made 30 runs off 104 balls with the crucial 88-run stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal was broken.
Rohit Sharma’s take on Rishabh Pant’s risk-free batting
Reacting to Pant’s approach in the post-match press conference, Rohit said that Rishabh needs to have a better conviction of his game awareness rather than anyone asking him to change his method.
“Look Rishabh Pant, he needs to understand what is required of him. More than any one of us telling him, you know, it’s about him understanding and figuring out what is the right way to go about it,” Rohit said.
Rohit further asked his teammate to adopt a balance of playing between fearless cricket and thought-provoking batting.
“It’s just about situation as well. Certain situation of the game where if there is a risk percentage, do you want to take that risk, do you want to let the opposition come back into the game, those are the things he needs to figure out himself.”
“See I know Rishabh for a very long time and I understand his cricket as well. In the past also we have had a lot of conversation. In terms of conversation, there is no way I can say that I’ve not had a chat with him or he doesn’t understand what the team expects. It’s just that fine line between telling him not to do those things or telling him,” he added.
Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma has commented on the form of Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant after losing the fourth Test against Australia by 184 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Monday. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
