“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”, Sunil Gavaskar slams Rishabh Pant on air for his shot selection to get dismissed

Rishabh Pant tried to scoop Scott Boland over the long leg region for a six and instead got a thick edge, which flew to third man.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”, Sunil Gavaskar slams Rishabh Pant on air for his shot selection to get dismissed

Sunil Gavaskar, Rishabh Pant (Via X)

Indian wicketkeeper-batter, Rishabh Pant, was slammed for his poor short selection to get dismissed on the third day of the fourth Test match between Australia and India at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Pant tried to scoop Scott Boland over the long leg region for six. He instead got a thick edge, which flew over the slip cordon to the third-man region, where Nathan Lyon completed a simple catch.

Former India cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar, who was on commentary during that time, absolutely ripped apart Pant for his wrong and stupid shot selection with India being 191/5 at that time while chasing the first innings score of 474 made by Australia. Pant has had some success while playing that shot. However, he looked very settled in the crease before he played that shot, and that did not please Gavaskar.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! That is not playing your natural game, (and) that is a stupid shot. He should not be going in that (Indian) dressing room, he should be going into the other dressing room.

Sunil Gavaskar said on ABC Grandstand’s commentary immediately after the dismissal as quoted by Fox Cricket

Pant was dismissed for 28 runs off 37 deliveries. He smashed three boundaries in his innings. The wicketkeeper-batter has had good starts in this series but hasn’t been able to convert it into a big score so far in this series.

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Alyssa Healy and Kerry O’Keeffe heaped praise on captain Pat Cummins for setting an attacking field to dismiss Rishabh Pant

Alyssa Healy and Kerry O’Keeffe, who were in the commentary panel when Pant was dismissed, heaped praise on the captaincy of Pat Cummins and his decision to set an attacking field against the southpaw. Kerry felt that both Boland and Cummins anticipated such a shot from Pant.

Healy felt that even if Pant did not intend to hit that ball to the third-man region, it was not a percentage spot at that point.

Alyssa Healy and Kerry O’Keeffe heaped praise on captain Pat Cummins for setting an attacking field to dismiss Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant (Via X)

You sense that Pant was placed there for such a shot. They also had the two deep (fielders) on the leg side, a fine leg and a backward square anticipating something like that.

Kerry O’Keeffe on commentary
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India ended the day on 358/9, still trailing by 116 runs. Nitish Kumar Reddy smashed a century along with a half-century from Washington Sundar to bring India back into the game and cut down on the deficit.