4th Test: If you praise Pant’s approach, don’t be critical if he fails, says Parthiv

Amidst the severe criticism for Rishabh Pant over the rash shot leading to his dismissal in the ongoing Boxing Day Test, former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel offered a different view — if one can praise Pant’s ultra-attacking approach, then one shouldn’t criticise him for falling due to that same approach, he suggested.

On Day 3 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), facing Scott Boland in the 56th over, Pant had attempted a falling scoop shot, but inside-edged the ball to his stomach and fell on the ground. Australian skipper Pat Cummins had his fielders placed in the deep, at fine leg and at third man, just in case Pant repeated that shot.

And it did happen — on the next ball, Pant tried the same shot, but to his horror, this time the top edge went to Nathan Lyon at deep third man. The left-handed batter was dismissed for 28 off 37 balls, leaving India at 191/5, trailing Australia by 283 runs — though they did manage to avoid the follow-on.

During his Test career, Pant has garnered quite a reputation for getting the runs through unorthodox strokeplay; but his dismissal in Melbourne reopened the debate over whether that was a shot that should have been played at all or not, given what India’s situation was.

While a livid Sunil Gavaskar slammed Pant and felt he let down India badly by throwing away his wicket, Parthiv Patel had a different take — though he also said the shot wasn’t a great idea, given where the visitors stood in the first session’s play.

“There are two sides to it," said Parthiv Patel. "[At] the time when Rishabh Pant had stepped out to play a blazing shot in the Adelaide Test, we were cheering for these strokes. Then we saw the reverse scoop and a few more strokes in his arsenal.

"My view is, the people who praised Rishabh Pant’s approach at that time, they don’t then have the right to be critical towards him over the shot he got out on, because this is the way he bats.”

“Plus, whenever he gets out, he will look this way and questions will always be raised over it. Yes, I do agree that it wasn’t the shot as per what the situation wanted, but this is the way Rishabh Pant plays," Patel continued.

“But if he’s getting out like this consistently and is costing the team big time, then a discussion on it is needed.

"In today’s game, the shot wasn’t as per the demand of that situation. But when you shower praise on his approach and say he plays in a different way and reverse-sweeps the fast bowler to execute it either for a four or six, he will also get out in the similar fashion, and an assessment of it can be done by seeing a big sample size,” said Parthiv on Cricbuzz.

He also felt there was an element of restlessness when Pant and Ravindra Jadeja were running between the wickets during the 32-run stand for the sixth wicket.

“Keeping this shot aside, there was an element of restlessness in running between the wickets by Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. The confusion was evident in them taking singles, and the mix-ups that almost happened in a run-out.”

“With Australia’s pacers consistently hitting their areas, there wasn’t an intention of surety when rotating the strike and that’s why that confusion happened many times. Plus, that shot which Pant played was also due to the lines and lengths Australian bowlers were bowling at, and he may have thought of rattling them with it and [putting] the pressure back on them,” he concluded.

“This is the way he will play his shots, and if we are to criticise him for playing these kind of shots, then we shouldn’t be appreciating if it comes off in future,” Patel reiterated, however.

Edited IANS inputs