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India's star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been in the firing line after his soft dismissal on Day 3 of the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Pant was dismissed playing an unorthodox ramp shot off Scott Boland in the first session of Day 3. Pant's dismissal left Sunil Gavaskar frustrated as he called the shot selection 'stupid' and expressed that he should bat down the order. Meanwhile, his former head coach Ravi Shastri defended the southpaw.
“It's not in every innings he has attempted that shot. Let's look at the way he was dismissed in each innings, he got 2-3 really good deliveries. He got a really good delivery that left off the length in Adelaide, there was no way he played an attacking shot,” Shastri told Star Sports.
“He got another one that left him, he was caught behind. Second innings in Adelaide, secodn ball of the day, he gets a good one from Starc and he nicks it. So, let's calm down here, guys. It's not every time he's throwing it away. He got some good balls as well.”
Shastri wants Pant to make just one change
While Shastri did not criticise Pant, he had an advice to the batter who is yet to score a half-century on the ongoing tour. He wants Pant to knock the ball around for singles when the opposition captain spreads the field. He also said that the ball that the ball he was dismissed for would've gone for a six had he hit it from the middle of the bat.
"That was a high-risk shot. There was no doubt about that. The field was set, two fielders on the boundary pretty fine, a fly slip and a fine leg as well. Scott Boland was looking to ball up. It didn't come off the face of the blade, Rishabh backs himself to get the face of the blade," said Shastri.
“If he had got that, it would've been a six. He was looking to clear the field, that's his instinct and that's the way he plays. You must remember that there are 1-2 players who take the game away.”
Pant managed to score 28 runs from 37 deliveries. So far, he has scored 124 runs from six innings at an average of 20.67.
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