Legendary Sunil Gavaskar expects Rishabh Pant to bounce back into form in the fifth Test match against Australia. Pant hasn’t been at his best in the ongoing Test series and he has been averaging around 25 in the series.
Before the Test series, the left-hander had a fabulous record against Australia as he had scored 624 runs in seven Test matches while playing Downunder.
Pant has got off to starts in the ongoing Test series but he hasn’t been able to get a big score. The southpaw’s shot selection came under scrutiny in the MCG Test as he was dismissed after scoring 28 and 30. In the second innings, Pant decided to play a big shot against Travis Head after the tea break but holed out to Mitchell Marsh at long-on.
After Pant’s first innings dismissal when he tried to play a lap shot but was caught at fly slip, Sunny Gavaskar had called that shot, ‘Stupid’.
Sunil Gavaskar wrote for Sydney Morning Herald, “I have been fortunate to see Pant play some fabulous orthodox century innings for India in England, South Africa, and here in Australia last time. He can do it again and if he does it in Sydney, I will be standing up and screaming ‘Superb, superb, superb.’”
“Playing for India is serious business with the millions who wake up early in the morning to see their favorite players and so bringing a festive air with chirps behind the stumps can lighten the pressure, but batting as if in a festival match is not the way to go about it.”
The Little Master highlighted that Pant is the man who the Australians fear the most as he has delivered consistently against them in the past.
“Pant is the man who the Australians fear the most because of his ability to take the game away with his stroke play. On the last trip he took the attack to the Aussies in a most calculated way and was the main architect of the famous win at the Gabba that sealed the series for India,” Gavaskar wrote in the same column.
“This time around more than calculated it is premeditated that has been his theme song and which has got him out. It’s as if he has decided that the only way to score this time is to attempt the ridiculously audacious.”
Pant is battling it out in the middle on the opening day of the fifth Test as he is unbeaten on 32 runs off 80 balls.
