‘Stupid, stupid, stupid’: Gavaskar lambasts Pant after ‘terrible’ dismissal

At 191/5, India were in desperate need of a partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant, two of India’s key batters in the middle order. But against the run of play, Pant tried to scoop the ball over the fine leg region, only for him to time the ball straight into the hands of Nathan Lyon, standing in the third-man region.

At that point, it was quite a puzzling shot selection, which triggered former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar, who called the shot ‘stupid, stupid, stupid,’ absolutely berating the left-hander. 

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” was Gavaskar’s reaction during his radio stint on ABC Sport.

“You’ve got two fielders there, and you still go for that,” Gavaskar added. 

“You missed the previous shot, and look where you’ve been caught. That is throwing away your wicket. You cannot say that that’s your natural game. I’m sorry. That is not your natural game. That is a stupid shot. That is letting your team down badly. You have to understand the situation as well.”

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" 😡

🏏 Safe to say Sunny wasn't happy with Rishabh Pant after that shot.

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— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) December 28, 2024

If that wasn’t enough, a frustrated Gavaskar wanted Pant to walk into the other dressing room, not India’s. 

“He should not be going in that [India’s] dressing room, he should be going in the other dressing room.”

Furthermore, Gavaskar insisted that Pant’s lack of shots in his armoury should be enough to demote him from the No.5 position. 

“It just appears that it is the only way he’s capable of scoring runs, if he’s not going to score runs the orthodox way, if you think he’s only going to hammer the ball towards long-on or behind the wicket, he won’t always succeed at the Test level. If that is the case, he can’t bat at No.5; he should be batting lower.”

However, India recovered later on, with a 100-run ongoing partnership between Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar, which has kept them well and truly driving in the Boxing Day Test.