‘Dumb! Rishabh Pant should not return to the Indian dressing room; should go to Australia: Gavaskar starts on live TV

Furious Sunil Gavaskar did not spare Rishabh Pant for the “shocking” and “terrible” shot he played to take his wicket in the morning session of Day 3 of the fourth Test against Australia in Melbourne. Pant, who seemed to be in total control of proceedings, relying on Pat Cummins and Scott Boland and even finding ways to score runs by analyzing the unorthodox field placements, suddenly lost his way. After taking a ball to the ribs on a falling shot from Scott Boland’s bowling, Pant attempted the same shot despite Australia having good leg, square leg and a third man back on the boundary, and ended up getting a top edge to the third man losing his wicket for 28.

Gavaskar was absolutely furious with Pant’s shot selection, which gave Australia their first breakthrough on the third day. The legendary Indian cricketer said Pant should not even think about returning to the Indian dressing room after that knock.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! He shouldn’t go to this (India’s) dressing room – he should go to the other dressing room!” Gavaskar said on ABP Sport radio.

“Shocking! Both the expulsion and the race. Currently, such runs and punches are not necessary. It could also be the way Australia bowled, no free runs, no singles on offer. It’s not T20 cricket or 50-overs cricket,” he said on commentary.

Pant, who generally plays an attacking game and finds unusual areas to score runs, was criticized for not understanding the game situation. Gavaskar was upset with the Indian goalkeeper for trying to clear the shot with two fielders deep and India desperately needed a partnership.

“Before, when there were no fielders around, he would try those shots. That’s understandable because you’re taking a calculated risk. Here the fielder was placed deep. However, he wanted to go over the leg but it went offside, so you could say there was perhaps a bit of bad luck, but at the time it was terrible shot selection as there were two fielders in depth,” said Gavaskar in the lunch break show on Starsport.

“Pant should not bat at number 5 if he continues to bat like this”: Gavaskar

The former India captain said that if Pant wanted to bat in this manner, he should not bat up to No. 5 in India’s batting order.

“It seems like that’s the only way he seems to be able to score runs, so he’s not going to score runs in the usual way. He’ll just go down the pitch, hit the ball over the goal with long shots, or continue to do so. If you pay those shots, you can’t always be successful at Test level. Then you have to be prepared for him to make you run sometimes. If that’s the case, he can’t knock down the order in 5th place.

“It’s (annoying). Between 20 and 39 he is eliminated 13 times and then there are three 50-plus scores. If you have three 50-plus scores in 18 innings, batting at No. 5, that’s one in six innings, you get a half-century. “Is that good enough for a No. 5?” he said.