A lot was expected from Rishabh Pant as India were in dire straits on the third day of the fourth Test, but the Indian star under-delivered. It was the same sloppy old style of dismissal, something that prompted Gavaskar to unleash a tirade that went viral. Day three’s MCG track is perhaps the best for hitting, with the green grass giving way to a brownish tinge and the old kookaburra doing little. Had Pant stayed there is no way he would have scored a big hit. With Ravindra Jadeja (17 off 51 balls) by his side, Pant started well and managed a few boundaries, but then the urge to play the falling-lap pull over long-leg led to his dismissal.

When Pant first tried it against Scott Boland, who was rounding the wicket, he was hit in the marine area and appeared to be in pain. He stood up, but didn’t realize that Pat Cummins had placed a fielder at deep fine leg and one at deep third man for both the conventional and reverse lap shots.

Without learning his lesson or caring about the success rate, Pant attempted a similar shot, but the extra bounce resulted in the top edge flying to the third man for the regular catch.

“Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! You have two fielders there and you’re still doing that. You missed the previous shot and look where you got caught. You caught a deep third man. That’s throw away.” Your wicket. Not in the situation India was in. You can’t say that’s your natural game He shouldn’t go bad “In this (Indian) dressing room, he should go to the other dressing room,” Gavaskar said on ABC Sport.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

It’s safe to say that Sunny wasn’t happy with Rishabh Pant after that shot.

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But a superb half-century from Nitish Kumar Reddy and able support from Washington Sundar helped India get past the 300-point mark against Australia.

With PTI inputs