IND vs SA: This Is Something He Had Not Done In Australia - Sunil Gavaskar On Rishabh Pant's Dismissal

Former Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar was quite appalled at the way Indian wicket-keeper batter, Rishabh Pant, played in the third innings of the Johannesburg Test against South Africa.

Having come in at a stage where India had just lost two wickets and was in need of a rebuild, Pant decided to charge down the track to Kagiso Rabada and swing his bat only to find a thin edge that was gobbled up by the keeper, Kyle Verreynne.

“It’s a valid question. This is something one can understand that if Rishabh Pant had been batting on 30 and 40. This is something he had not done in Australia.”

“There he applied himself, recognised that there will be hard times at the beginning when you come in to bat and then battling through the hard times, he got set and got to know how the pitch is. And then he played the big shots. That’s what he did in Australia,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

Dravid must have given him a bamboo – Sunil Gavaskar

The head coach Rahul Dravid was clearly unimpressed with the dismissal as well and he was stonefaced in the dressing room. Gavaskar believes that Dravid would have certainly given Pant the short end of the stick.

“This is something we saw against England, at the start of the series. When England came to India, he was jumping down the pitch and trying to hit James Anderson… he did that so well.”

“But after that, he seems to think that is the only way to play. That is not the way to play and I am pretty certain that in the change room, Rahul Dravid would have given him a hearing, or as they say in cricket, Dravid must have given him a ‘bamboo’,” Gavaskar added.

India managed to put up 266 on the board and set a target of 240 for the Proteas. At the end of play on Day 3, South Africa reached 118/2.

Also, Read – IND vs SA: Sunil Gavaskar Urges Indian Team To Win Johannesburg Test As A Birthday Present To Kapil Dev