Ex-India star backs “nice participant” amid poor kind

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has thrown his weight behind Rishabh Pant amid the keeper-batter receiving backlash over his shot selection in IND vs AUS 4th Test that led to his dismissals. The southpaw threw his wicket away in both the innings at the MCG after opting for a wild shot. While skipper Rohit Sharma said that Pant needed to figure out the risk-reward system by himself, Manjrekar highlighted how one simply can’t point fingers at the batter, given his record in Tests.

“Criticise Pant for his failures only”

Taking to social media platform X, Manjrekar highlighted that Pant averages 42 in Tests and already has six centuries and seven ninety plus scores to his name. He reckons that the criticism should be directed at his failure to score and not at how he fails.

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Pant threw his wicket away in an alarming fashion in both the innings. In the 1st innings, he played a ridicoulous shot off Scott Boland that saw the fielder at deep third man take a catch to end his stint at the crease. The shot drew criticism from all quarters, with former Indian cricketer Gavaskar leading the charge with his ‘stupid, stupid, stupid’ rant. Similarly, in the 2nd innings, the southpaw faltered right after Tea and ended up losing his wicket when he looked well settled.

After playing 100 balls easily, Rishabh threw his wicket away while attempting a big shot off Travis Head. On the 4th delivery of 59th over, Pant misjudged a fractionally short ball, thinking it was suitable for a pull shot. However, he failed to get under the ball properly and mistimed his shot. The ball flew wide of long-on, where Mitchell Marsh ran to his left and completed a well-judged reverse-cupped catch, even as he hit the ground.