New Delhi: Wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant spoke about Rohit Sharma’s controversial decision ‘to rest himself’ from the fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday, 3 January.
Pant contradicted stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah’s statement and said that it was an emotional decision because the players see him as a leader of the team but there are some decisions as a player you’re not involved with and it’s a team management call.
“Definitely, it was an emotional decision because he’s been captain for a long time. We see him as a leader of the team but I think there are some decisions you’re not involved with. It’s a very management call so I was not part of that conversation so can’t explain anything other than that” Rishabh Pant said in the press conference after stumps on Day 1.
Earlier, Bumrah at the toss said that it was Rohit’s decision to opt out of this match. He further added that ‘Our Captain’ Rohit had opted to rest in this match and that showed the unity of our team. Bumrah also said that there’s no selfishness in the team and they do whatever is in the team’s best interest. Shubman Gill replaced Rohit in the playing XI for the fifth Test and injured Akash Deep was replaced by Prasidh Krishna.
‘I was not in a frame of mind where I wanted to take charge of the game’: Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant scored 40 runs off 98 balls and was the highest run-scorer for Team India in the first innings. Pant talked about his gritty knock and said he was not in a frame of mind where he wanted to take charge of the game because the wicket was doing too much.
“We knew that if we lost one more wicket here, we might lose 2-3 in quick succession. So that was the idea behind the way I was playing” Pant said.
The Men in Blue were bowled out for 185 runs in the first innings. Scott Boland took 4 wickets and removed Jaiswal (10), Kohli (17), Pant (40) and Nitish Reddy (0) while Mitchell Starc also picked up 3 wickets and Cummins took 2 wickets. The visitors also got off to a poor start as Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Khawaja on 3 runs.
Team India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant spoke about Rohit Sharma’s controversial decision ‘to rest himself’ from the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
