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Former cricketer Atul Wassan feels India southpaw Rishabh Pant needs to "think" and "tamper" his game according to the situation after being slammed for his performance in the Melbourne Test.
Pant faced backlash from fans and former cricketers after India fell to an 184-run defeat in front of a record-attendance crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the Boxing Day Test. The southpaw gave away his wicket while trying to pull off an audacious shot in the first innings. Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, who was on commentary, didn't mince his words while talking about Pant's dismissal. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. You've got two fielders there, and you still go for that, you've missed the previous shot. And look where you've been caught. You've been caught at deep third," was Gavaskar's reaction during commentary. In the second innings, when India stood in a comfortable position to end the Test at a draw, Pant's dismissal opened the floodgates. He tried to take on part-time bowler Travis Head and holed it to Mitchell Marsh, ending his time on the crease. "He (Pant) has won matches with such shots. But now there are a lot of expectations. So he should know how to tamper his game. I think Pant has slacked too much. He has to think. If you are not tampering with yourself according to the situation as a senior player, then you need to think," Wassan told ANI. Pant ended the fourth Test with scores of 28(37) and 30(104). Overall, in the series, the 27-year-old has managed to amass 154 runs at an average of 22.00 in seven innings. Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes Pant should be criticised for his failures, but not the way he gets dismissed. "Pant should be criticised only for his failures, rather than how he fails. He averages 42 in Tests with at least 3 great innings, ever played by an Indian! In 42 tests he has 6 hundred & 7 nineties. He is a great player not scoring enough runs & that's the crux of it," Manjrekar wrote in a post on X. (ANI)
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