Sunil Gavaskar questions Rishabh Pant’s shot selection, says batter should bat in lower order if he can’t bat in orthodox style

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Rishabh Pant after the Indian wicket-keeper bat was dismissed after scoring 28 runs on the third day of the fourth Test match at the MCG on Saturday. Despite settling at the crease, Pant tried to play the slog sweep to deep fine-leg against Scott Boland but got the outside edge, which carried to Nathan Lyon at fly slip.

On ABC commentary, Gavaskar called Pant’s shot as ‘stupid’ and angrily said he shouldn’t be going back into the Indian dressing room.

Pant is known to play unorthodox shots for his runs but Gavaskar believes it was uncalled given the match situation as India was on the backfoot. The Little Master feels the wicket-keeper bat should bat in the lower order if he has to continue playing aggressively.

“It just appears to be that that’s the only way he thinks he’s capable of scoring runs,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

“So if he’s not going to be able to score runs the orthodox way, if he’s only thinking that he’s going to go down the pitch, hammering the ball over long-on, or just looking to play these shots, which means at the Test level you can’t always succeed. Then you have got to be prepared for the fact that he will get you some runs sometimes. If that is the case, then he cannot bat at No. 5, he’s got to bat down the order,” the 75-year-old added.

Pant has always a thorn in Australia’s flesh but he is yet to bring his best in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar trophy despite getting off to starts in almost every innings. However, there is no doubt that Pant is going to hold the key in the second innings on the final day’s play.

At stumps on Day 4, Australia were 228-9, leading by 333 runs.