Rishabh Pant Blasted For Throwing Away His Wicket In 2nd Test: "Can't Make Sense"

Former Indian cricket team wicket-keeper batter Saba Karim blasted Rishabh Pant for his dismissal during Day 3 of the second Test match against South Africa on Monday. Pant could manage only 7 runs before throwing away his wicket against Marco Jansen. The left-handed batter went for a wild swing against the fast bowler but ended up edging the delivery to Kyle Verreynne behind the stumps. The stand-in skipper came out to bat with India losing the crucial wickets of Sai Sudharsan and Yashasvi Jaiswal but his approach did not impress fans. Karim slammed Pant for his reckless dismissal and said that he should have absorbed the pressure instead of throwing away his wicket.

"You can't make any sense out of this. How do you explain this? It's very difficult. Maybe first time in his Test career, Rishabh Pant may not be able to explain this. This happened immediately after tea. You are the captain of the side, you need to shoulder some responsibility. You have got enough experience of playing at that level. So, you lead by example. You lead by absorbing pressure and taking blows," Saba Karim said on ESPNCricinfo.

"All that was missing in Rishabh Pant's approach. I can understand you have to play your natural game, but you can do so by spending some time at the crease. Playing such high-risk shots at that stage of the game pushes your entire team into a corner. Now, India have found themselves in such a difficult position. It will be very difficult for them to get out of it," he added.

After taking a 288-run first innings lead, South Africa were 26 for no loss in their second essay at stumps on Day 3 as the visitors took control of the second Test against India on Monday.

Openers Ryan Rickelton and Aiden Markram were batting on 13 and 12 respectively at the end of the day's play.

South Africa faced eight overs in the final session after dismissing India for 201 in 83.5 overs in their first innings.

The Proteas, who had made 489 in their first innings, are now 314 runs ahead overall with two days left in the Test. The visitors had won the first Test by 30 runs in Kolkata.

In India's first innings, only Yashasvi Jaiswal (58 off 97 balls) and Washington Sundar (48 off 92 balls) could contribute substantially as the home team suffered a batting collapse after starting the day at 9 for no loss.

Four Indian wickets tumbled in the opening session, reaching 102 for 4 at tea. Three more Indian batters fell in the second session.

Washington and Kuldeep Yadav (19 off 134 balls) gave a stubborn resistance after India were reduced to 122 for 7 in the second session, stitching a 72-run partnership for the eighth wicket before the former was out.

South Africa then wrapped up the two remaining Indian wickets easily. Kuldeep was out after the Proteas took the new ball in the final session of the day.

Marco Jansen was the wrecker in chief with figures of 6/48 while Simon Harmer took three wickets for 64 runs.

(With PTI inputs)

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