IND vs SA: Rahul Dravid Won't Be Too Happy About It: Dinesh Karthik On Rishabh Pant's Dismissal

Indian player Dinesh Karthik said that Rishabh Pant would be disappointed with the shot that led to his dismissal against South Africa on Day 3.

Indian batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane carried their brilliant performance they left from overnight and stretched their partnership to 111 runs. Both the batters used their immense experience to bail out their team from a tricky situation as they shifted their gears from playing defensively to attacking.

Rahane was the wrecker-in-chief particularly in the first session as he slammed eight boundaries and a six to Marco Jansen, it was very important for him to play that knock after the pressure he was pumped into over his poor batting form.

Rishabh Pant gets dismissed in an unfashionable manner to Kagiso Rabada

Both Rahane and Pujara were dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in quick succession with the onus was on Pant to escalate India’s lead in order to set a huge target for the Proteas.

Pant would be a tad disappointed with the shot option he took: Dinesh Karthik

In the 39th over of India’s second innings, Rabada bowled a short ball to Pant that pinged his gloves but didn’t go aerial. But the very next delivery, Pant came down the track to smash Rabada’s short ball, which he got a thin edge to his counterpart Kyle Verreynne behind the stumps.

Dravid looked upset with Pant’s shot soon as the camera panned towards him soon after the player’s dismissal. Karthik said that he wasn’t pleased with Pant for not learning from the previous delivery of his dismissal and yet attempted to play that unnecessary shot.

“Definitely let Pant go play his way, which is fine with me. But he’s somebody who’s clever about it, that’s what he has learned in international cricket. What I didn’t like about the shot was the fact that I think the previous ball, which was an absolute snorter, dictated how he played the next ball. Which is not the Rishabh Pant we know,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

“He’s someone who’ll live by the sword, die by the sword. He has won matches doing this but he has been clever about it. He plays a shot within his repertoire and that is what enables him to be successful. But this one was more out of a ‘put the bowler on the backfoot’ shot. We use this word – ‘impose himself’. Whereas he is somebody who I feel assesses a situation and then attacks.”

“We are gonna get dismissals like that but we’d rather get that when we play 10,12, 14 balls. To do that on the third ball with the second ball being an absolute snorter. I do feel that Rahul Dravid won’t be too happy about it. We know how Dravid played his cricket – guts it out, fought it out just like what Pujara, Rahane did. Pant would be a tad disappointed with the shot option he took,” Karthik concluded.

South Africa were 118/2 at the end of the gameplay of Day 3 with their skipper Dean Elgar remaining undefeated on 46 despite taking some nasty blows on his body in the final few overs.

Also Read: IND vs SA: Watch – Rishabh Pant Mocks Rassie Van der Dussen After He Forgets Where His Guard Is