Rishabh Pant's shot selection against South Africa attracts criticism

Overview

• Rishabh Pant played a bit too recklessly in his stay in the middle in the first innings of the Guwahati Test against South Africa
• Anil Kumble, Aakash Chopra, and Parthiv Patel were disappointed with the way he threw away his wicket
• India was dismissed for 201 in the first innings of the Guwahati Test, after being 95/1 at one stage

Rishabh Pant played a bit too recklessly in his stay in the middle in the first innings of the Guwahati Test against South Africa. Anil Kumble, Aakash Chopra, and Parthiv Patel were disappointed with the way he threw away his wicket. India was dismissed for 201 in the first innings of the Guwahati Test, after being 95/1 at one stage.

Speaking on Jiostar, Anil Kumble felt there was no need for Pant to go after Marco Jansen, as he had a lot of time to spend in the middle. He felt the pitch was suitable to bat time and score runs later, citing Senuran Muthuswamy's example, who scored a ton after grinding it out early in his stay in the middle.

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"As long as Rishabh Pant is out there in the middle, South African bowlers won’t be comfortable. They know that he can take the game away from you in a flash. You can’t do that with 10 balls you’ve faced. You can’t run in and say I am gonna do that," Kumble said.

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"This is Test match cricket. You just bat session after session, and that’s the pitch. It’s not a pitch where you go in and change the game in one session. This is a pitch where you have to bat long and that’s the only approach. That’s what Muthusamy showed yesterday," Kumble added.

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Aakash Chopra and Parthiv Patel added their bit. Chopra felt Pant's batting is like a double edged sword, which would receive praises when he succeeds and criticism when he fails. Patel felt Pant gets out while playing such high-risk shots in Tests.