‘Pant needs to understand what is…’ Rohit Sharma doesn’t mince words about Indian wicketkeeper’s shocking shot selection

Team India lost the MCG test match to go down 2-1 in the five-match series with a game left to play. Skipper Rohit Sharma was addressing the media when there were questions asked about Rishabh Pant. India’s wicketkeeper-batter was out for 28 and 30, playing careless shots in both innings. 

Addressing this question, Rohit Sharma said, “He needs to understand what is required from himself. It's about him understanding and figuring out what is the right way to go about it. He has got a lot of success doing that." The retort comes after Sunil Gavaskar had slammed the Indian wicketkeeper and batter after his careless dismissal in the 1st innings. 

Just like the first essay, Pant looked settled and added over 100 runs for the 4th wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal. The introduction of Travis Head got an immediate wicket with the bowler dropping the ball short. Pant was quick to try and pull the ball as Mitchell Marsh took a neat catch to change the course of the game. That wicket changed the momentum of the game as India suffered a huge collapse to lose the match. 

Rohit Sharma expresses disappointment over MCG loss

Amidst his woeful run of form, the latest loss will further elevate the questions asked about Rohit Sharma. The veteran scored just 9 runs with the bat to take his series tally to 31 with an average of 6.2. India now has to win the SCG Test match and hope that Sri Lanka beat Australia in their series at home to qualify for the WTC finals. 

Speaking at the end of the game, Rohit said “Pretty disappointing. Not that we went with the intent of not putting up a fight, we wanted to fight till the end but unfortunately couldn't do it. It will be tough to assess just the last session. We have to look at the overall Test match, we had our opportunities, we had our chances, but we didn't take them and we let Australia come back into the game”

When asked to speak about Nitish Reddy, the skipper said “He (Nitish Reddy) is coming here for the first time, these conditions can get tough but he has shown lot of character and fight, showed solid technique as well. He has bright future ahead of him and he has all the skills to be successful”