‘In 42 Tests, he has at least 3 great knocks ever played by an Indian…’: Rishabh Pant is a ‘great who’s not scoring’

Rishabh Pant looked set on his way to playing another crucial match-saving innings in Australia, as his partnership alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in the middle session of day five at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, ready to play out the day and take the series to Sydney for a decider. However, a rush of blood led to Pant being caught at the long-on boundary off a bad delivery by part-timer Travis Head, starting the collapse that saw Australia win a famous Test to take a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

In combination with his bizarre first innings dismissal, caught at third man trying to play a shot while falling over, Pant has received mass criticism for the manner in which he was dismissed in both innings, especially given the match situation on both occasions. However, there have also been those who have come to his defence, seeing this as the pay-off for his remarkable aggression and ability working on other occasions.

Former Indian cricketer and pundit Sanjay Manjrekar falls somewhere in between, taking to social media to explain how he thinks the issue with Pant isn’t the form of dismissal, but rather his struggle to make scores of significance in the recent past.

Posting on X, Manjrekar wrote: “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!”

‘Not scoring enough runs…’

Manjrekar went on to explain how Pant deserves backing for his exploits in the past, but how he needs to polish his act and maintain his incredible run-scoring ability in Test cricket. “In 42 tests he has 6 hundreds & 7 nineties. He is a great player not scoring enough runs & that’s the crux of it.”

In his 9 matches since return from the brutal accident in late 2022, Pant has some scores of significance, with a century against Bangladesh and an excellent and unfortunate 99 against New Zealand, as well as a pair of 60s in the final match of that series vs the Kiwis. However, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has seen Pant struggle a touch, with only 154 runs in 7 innings.

A lot of India’s hopes in trying to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney will depend on how Pant performs, and if he can provide another iconic innings at the SCG to try and take India to a famous series leveller and keep them alive in the race for the WTC final.