Rishabh Pant brutally attacked by ex-India keeper over brainfade shot in Guwahati Test: "You’re the captain"

Former India National Cricket Team wicketkeeper-batsman Saba Karim was quite disappointed seeing the dismissal of the stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant in the second Test against the South Africa National Cricket Team.

Saba Karim said that Rishabh Pant should have taken some responsibility being the skipper of the team, but instead, he got out while playing a rash shot at the wrong time.

Rishabh Pant is again under the scanner over shot selection

Pant is serving as the stand-in captain of Team India in the ongoing Guwahati Test against the World Test Champions, South Africa. He was handed the leadership after Shubman Gill was ruled out of the match due to his neck injury.

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Rishabh Pant had a poor start to his Test captaincy career as bowling rotations didn't work at all, and the Proteas piled up a massive score of 489 in the first innings, and in response, India got bowled out for 201.

Expectations were pretty high from Rishabh Pant, but he failed miserably and got out for 7 runs off 8 balls. On the second ball of the 38th over, Rishabh Pant suddenly charged down the track to smash a short length delivery from Marco Jansen for a boundary.

However, Pant was unable to make any good connection with the ball and only managed to edge it back to the keeper Verreynne.

Maybe first time in his Test career, Rishabh Pant may not be able to explain this - Saba

Saba Karim was left fuming seeing the way Rishabh Pant got out. He said that there can be no explanation for why Pant went for such a shot and blasted him, saying that he should have taken some responsibility, being the senior pro in the playing XI.

"You can't make any sense out of this. How do you explain this? It's very difficult. Maybe first time in his Test career, Rishabh Pant may not be able to explain this.

"This happened immediately after tea. You are the captain of the side, you need to shoulder some responsibility. You have got enough experience of playing at that level. So, you lead by example. You lead by absorbing pressure and taking blows," Saba Karim said on ESPNCricinfo.

All that was missing in Rishabh Pant's approach - Saba Karim

Saba Karim further backed Rishabh Pant to play his natural brand of cricket, but urged him to be more responsible in the middle. The former Indian gloveman feels that Pant's awful shot selection has pushed India way behind in the match, and they are unlikely to recover from it.

"All that was missing in Rishabh Pant's approach. I can understand you have to play your natural game, but you can do so by spending some time at the crease.

"Playing such high-risk shots at that stage of the game pushes your entire team into a corner. Now, India have found themselves in such a difficult position. It will be very difficult for them to get out of it," Karim added.

Also Read: Parthiv Patel, Aakash Chopra drop shocking verdicts on Rishabh Pant’s reckless batting against South Africa