South Africa's Rassie van der Dussen has opened up on the Rishabh Pant sledging incident that took place in the second Test match in Johannesburg. The two were seen exchanging words in the second Test when Pant caught Van der Dussen in the first innings and taunted the batter. The confrontation followed in the latter days of the Test match as the 32-year-old would distract the Indian star and eventually force him to give away his wicket by charging down to Kagiso Rabada unnecessarily. The incident has now been revisited by the batter after winning the Test series.
"It was a moment. I asked Rishabh [Pant] a few questions. Maybe he didn't enjoy it too much. I'm not sure why. But there was certainly no hostility from my end. Maybe the way he took it - offence is taken and not given. I was at a nice position at short leg. I had access to him in that sense," the South Africa batter told ESPNCricinfo.
"And I could ask him a few questions. There was never any hostility. And from there, it just sort of blew up. When I went out to bat, they reciprocated quite nicely. It's part of the game. It's Test cricket. It's tough out there, and everyone's trying to level basically to gain an inch,” the 32-year-old said.
The 24-year-old Pant was later criticised for his role in the incident that ultimately cost him his wicket in the second innings and restricted India to a sub-par total. The incident went on to have huge ramifications on the outcome of just not the match but also on the series as Team India went on to lose the Johannesburg Test followed by another lackluster performance in Cape Town to ultimately lose the series.
Pant, however, did manage to win over his critics in the final match at the Newlands, Cape Town as he scored an unbeaten hundred in second innings. The two will be seen in action again in the first ODI of the three-ODI series on January 19.
The left-handed batter is one of the contenders to become India's next Test captain after Virat Kohli relinquished his role following the series defeat. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and World Cup-winner Yuvraj Singh has backed the proposal to make Pant the captain, while the likes of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma remain frontrunners.
