‘Everyone is not Pujara’ - Rishabh Pant’s hilarious sledging from behind the wickets

India had a fantastic day at the Adelaide Oval on Day 2 as their bowling tetrad tightened things for Australian batsmen as the hosts are at 191 for 7, trailing by 59 runs at the closure of play on Day 2. The entire Indian team looked in great spirits throughout the course of play and the constant chattering, understandably so with the verbally vociferous Virat Kohli marshalling his troops, from the fielders closer to the batting crease did a world of good in livening the tempo.

Among a handful of amusing banters, the one that involved India’s wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant had everyone in splits. The 21-year old wanted to inspire the team’s lone premium spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was bowling well at that point, with a quick-witted comment that drew parallels between Australia’s No.3 batsman Usman Khawaja, who was at the crease then, and his Indian counterpart Cheteswar Pujara.

‘Everyone is not Pujara’

In the 30th over, Ashwin bowled a flatter delivery just outside off and the watchful Khawaja, who was in no hurry to try anything flashy, let the ball stomp into the gloves of wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant. The flamboyant Delhi-boy sensed that Khawaja was comfortably leaving the ones pitched outside the line of off stump by Ashwin and so he wanted to inspire Ashwin with a funny comment.

Rishabh Pant, as loud and clear from behind the stumps, chirped in and said, “Sab Pujara nahi hai Bhai.” Meaning “Not everyone is Pujara, bro”. Pujara, who churned out a tenacious hundred in the first innings yesterday that helped India get out of jail, was so watchful against those deliveries outside off throughout his innings. Referring to the same, Rishabh Pant’s comments indicated that the same can’t happen with Usman Khawaja too as not everyone can bat with as much tenacity and resilience as India’s dependable No.3 does.

Ashwin, who was at the receiving end of Pant’s ‘inspirational’ jibe, responded with a smile and continued bowling well against the Aussie left-hander. The off-spinner struck gold indeed as he bowled a peach of a delivery to get a kick off Usman Khawaja’s willow and icing on the cake is the fact that the catch was taken by the quick-witted Rishabh Pant himself.

Watch the video here

[interaction id=”5c08f3066c97ee5cbff358fc”]

~ Written by Harikrishnan Sivakumar