India vs South Africa 3rd Test: Sunil Gavaskar Slams Rishabh Pant, Says Head Coach Rahul Dravid Must Have Given Him a ‘Bamboo’ For Dismal Batting

The 83 World Cup winning batsman, pointed out that he did the same against England last year but that doesn't mean that he'll be doing it every time.

New Delhi: Hosts, South Africa came back in style in the Test Series against India, as captain Dean Elgar led from the front for the Proteas to script a remarkable 7-wicket victory over KL Rahul-led India to level the Series at 1-1. This was South Africa’s first ever Test win over the visitors in Johannesburg. Out of the many players who have underperformed for Team India, one of them has to be wicket-keeper batsman, Rishabh Pant. Pant is yet to make any sort of mark with the bat in this series and his clumsy act in the 3rd Test has raised a lot of questions of his performance and former India international and legend Sunil Gavaskar is one of them.

When India needed to calm themselves down and hold onto their nerves for a good score, Pant decided to charge on Lungi Ngidi and then ended up by getting out for duck in the third ball he faced.

“It’s a valid question. This is something one could understand 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 The Byju’s Cricket Live Show.

The 83 World Cup winning batsman, pointed out that he did the same against England last year but that doesn’t mean that he’ll be doing it every time. He believes that head coach, Rahul Dravid must have given a ‘bamboo’ for his unprofessional act.

“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’,” said Gavaskar.