Sunil Gavaskar reckons Rishabh Pant should not have sledged Pat Cummins

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar looked mighty pleased with the way team India registered a historic Test win in Adelaide recently. While he looked satisfied with almost everything that the Indian team did on the field, he looked particularly upset with one Indian cricketer – Rishabh Pant. Gavaskar did not have any complains with the way Pant batted or fared behind the stumps.

Rishabh Pant had an excellent game with the gloves as he equalled the world record for most catches in a Test match – 11 catches. With the bat, he certainly could have fared better. But the aspect of the game where Sunil Gavaskar reckons that the youngster missed the plot was with his sledging. During the fag end of the game, Pant was heard passing comments on Australian batter Pat Cummins.

Citing Cummins’ defensive game, he remarked, “Not going for shots, Patty?”. The broadcasters decided to only play the stump mic for an entire R Ashwin over and Pant was heard passing comments on Cummins. Reflecting back on the same, Pant remarked that he loves to get to the skin of the batters. However, Gavaskar feels that this was not the best way to behave.

“I totally understand encouraging your own team but to say something like, ‘come on Pat’ and all that, I don’t agree with that. You shouldn’t be saying anything to the opposition. If you want, you can talk to your team. But directly saying something to a fast bowler… if the next pitch at Perth is quick, I am sure Cummins is not going to forget that,” Sunil Gavaskar told Sony Six.

‘Not beyond the lines yet’

Having said that, Gavaskar did admit that the things still haven’t gone too overboard and seem to be under control. He, however, added that Pant has certainly lost some control over the last few months and one of the examples of this is the way he is addressing R Ashwin in the ongoing Tests.

“So far it hasn’t gone beyond [the line]. But at times, you tend to get carried away. The thing to notice more than anything else is that, in England where he was making his debut, it was ‘come on, Ash sir or Ash bhai’. Now’s it ‘come on Ash’ and sometimes ‘come on Ashley’.”

Stump mic on 🔊
It’s cricket like never before, no commentary in the whole over 😮 #AUSvIND #foxcricket pic.twitter.com/8R2nwVMa9W

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) December 10, 2018

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