Rishabh Pant’s hideous dismissal on day three of the Boxing Day Test has been pilloried as triple “stupid” by India legend Sunil Gavaskar.
With India five wickets down and still trailing Australia by 283 runs less than an hour into the day’s play, the tourists needed Rishabh and batting partner Ravindra Jadeja to carry a heavy load at the MCG.
Rishabh had showed off his attacking tendencies shortly after the resumption when he crushed Pat Cummins for four high over mid-on, but that was to a vacant long-on region of the field.
When he decided to play a whipping ramp shot while falling towards the off side against Scott Boland in the 56th over, there were fielders in place waiting for it.
He got away with the first one, which hit him in the guts and left him perhaps embarrassed on the turf but still with his wicket intact.
The next ball he tried the same thing, this time getting it off the top edge, which sailed long and straight to Nathan Lyon to complete a simple catch on the rope.
As Rishabh trudged off for 28 off 37, Gavaskar was apoplectic in commentary for ABC Sport.
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“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” he began as he intended to go on.
“You’ve got two fielders there and you still go for that. You missed the previous shot, and look where you’ve been caught.
“That is throwing away your wicket. You cannot say that’s your natural game. I’m sorry, that is not your natural game. That is a stupid shot. That is letting your team down badly. You have to understand the situation as well.
Sunil Gavaskar was the first India batter to reach 10,000 Test runs. (Getty Images: Izhar Khan)
“He should not be going in that [India’s] dressing room, he should be going into the other dressing room.”
So intense was the anger from Gavaskar that he had to check on the wellbeing of co-commentator Harsha Bhogle.
“Actually, are your ear drums OK?” he asked.
“Because, you know, I screamed a little bit, so maybe, we’re also connected to each other on the headphones. [But] your ear drums are OK?”
Rishabh Pant was out playing a ridiculous shot in the first hour of the day. (AAP: James Ross)
Bhogle assured him he was alright, while the pair carried on watching Nitish Kumar Reddy, playing just his fourth Test.
Nitish is one of three all-rounders in the Indian middle to lower order, along with Jadeja and Washington Sundar, and has shown composure with the bat beyond his 21 years throughout the series.
“He should be promoted up the order, because he bats with a great deal of responsibility,” Gavaskar said, perhaps alluding to Rishabh’s status as the number five in India’s line-up, which is higher than most wicketkeepers.
“He bats with a great deal of awareness of the situation. Awareness of the situation is so important when you’re playing Test cricket.”
It came after a late flurry on the second evening, when India lost 3-6 in 22 balls, including a ridiculous run-out between set batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli.
Gavaskar was the first Indian player to score 10,000 Tests runs — since joined by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid — and the series between Australia and India is named partly in his honour.
If Australia wins the fourth Test it will lead the series 2-1 heading into the final game at the SCG meaning India would need a victory to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
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