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Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday criticised India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant's 'terrible shot selection' which got him out on Day Three at the Melbourne Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Australia pacer Scott Boland dismissed Pant in the 55.4 overs for 28 runs from 37 balls at a strike rate of 75.68. He slammed three fours during his time on the crease. Boland delivered a full-length ball, to which Pant crouched low and attempted the scoop shot, to which it got a top edge and flew down to the third man, where Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon barely had to move to take the catch. Speaking on Star Sports during the lunch break, Gavaskar said that a little bit of bad luck was involved for which Pant was dimissed. "I think earlier on, when there had been no fielders around, that's when he's attempted these shots, that is understandable because you're taking a very good chance. That [the shot] was supposed to go to the leg side, that went to the off side, it actually tells you maybe [there was] a little bit of bad luck involved, but terrible selection of a shot to play at that particular point with two fielders down at deep square-leg and deep point," Gavaskar was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying. He added that Pant thinks he won't be able to score runs the orthodox way, and only thinks of going down the pitch. "It just appears to be that that's the only way he thinks he's capable of scoring runs. So if he's not going to be able to score runs the orthodox way, if he's only thinking that he's going to go down the pitch, hammering the ball over long-on, or just looking to play these shots, which means at the Test level you can't always succeed. Then you have got to be prepared for the fact that he will get you some runs sometimes. If that is the case, then he cannot bat at No. 5, he's got to bat down the order," he added. At Stumps on Day Three, India stood at 358/9, with Nitish (105*) and Mohammed Siraj (2*) unbeaten on the crease. The visitors still trail by 116 runs. (ANI)
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