Sunil Gavaskar had lambasted Pant's shot selection on air during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 didn’t go well for the Indian team led by Rohit Sharma as they were battered 1-3 despite winning the first Test in Perth in a dominant fashion. Much like many others in the team, keeper-batter Rishabh Pant endured a torrid time in the recent edition of the famous series.
The Delhi left-hander scored 255 runs from nine innings which included just a single fifty. These were low returns for Pant, who was among the heroes of the 2020-21 triumph on Australian soil by scoring 274 runs from just five innings.
Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar, after whom the trophy is named alongside his Australian counterpart Allan Border, was also commentating on the series. The former opening batter was critical of Pant’s performances but one particular moment incensed him.
During the first innings of the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Pant was out trying to scoop Scott Boland to deep fine leg but only managed to sky it straight to the fielder positioned at the opposite end.
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Gavaskar couldn’t hide his disappointment on air, as he lambasted Pant’s shotmaking decision as counteractive to the team’s cause.
“Stupid, Stupid, STUPID! You’ve got two fielders there, and you still go for that. You missed the previous shot, and look where you’ve been caught. That is throwing away your wicket. You cannot say that is your natural game. I’m sorry. That is not your natural game. This is a stupid shot. This is letting your team down badly. You have to understand the situation as well.” Gavaskar said during commentary.
As Pant started walking back to the pavilion, Gavaskar couldn’t help but take another stab at it by saying:
“He should not be going in that (India’s) dressing room, he should be going in the other dressing room.”
While some would’ve taken it personally, Pant turned that into hilarious marketing material in his upcoming advertisement ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. He was seen trying to replicate Gavaskar’s commentary from that day.
Pant will be leading the Lucknow Super Giants this season. They will begin their campaign against Delhi Capitals on March 24 in Visakhapatnam.
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