‘That is a stupid shot’ – Sunil Gavaskar vents his ire after Rishabh Pant’s irresponsible shot to throw his wicket away

Former Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar has hit out at the way Rishabh Pant lost his wicket early on day 3 of MCG Test. Pant was batting on 28 when he tried to play the falling scoop shot against Scott Boland. The ball traveled high as Nathan Lyon settled under the ball and took an easy catch. 

The 75-year-old who was on commentary duties for ABC Sport was heard saying “You’ve got two fielders there and you still go for that”. In the previous ball, Pant had tried to play the same shot but had failed to connect with the ball. Boland though stuck to his guns and invited Pant to play the shot again and the youngster took the bait and perished.

Sunil Gavaskar also said “You missed the previous shot, and look where you’ve been caught. That is throwing away your wicket. You cannot say that that’s your natural game. I’m sorry. That is not your natural game. That is a stupid shot. That is letting your team down badly. You have to understand the situation as well. He should not be going in that dressing room, he should be going in the other dressing room.”

India still 30 runs adrift of avoiding follow on mark 

Rishabh Pant came out on day 3 looking to add more runs to the overnight score of 165 along with Ravindra Jadeja. The 27-year-old charged Cummins and hit for a four to set the wheels in motion. Just when the fans thought that Pant was finally coming good he was out for 28. 

Ravindra Jadeja batted on for 51 balls before he was given out LBW to Nathan Lyon. Indian star went up for the DRS but the call was with the umpire as the Aussies celebrated their 7 wicket of the innings. Jadeja who scored 77 in the last game was out for 17 as Washington Sundar came into bat. 

At lunch, India were placed 244/7 with Nitish Kumar Reddy batting on 40. The youngster has batted 61 balls with 3 fours and a six. Washington Sundar is batting on 5 runs from 27 balls with India still needing 30 runs to avoid the follow-on. With two sessions and two more days to play the Indians have a upfill task to climb.