New Delhi: Flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant received mixed reactions from fans on Twitter after a dismal show with the bat in the first innings of the World Test Championship Final. Pant was dismissed by Kyle Jamieson on 4 as fans fired shots at the southpaw. The wicketkeeper-batsman came to bat at a very tricky situation when skipper Virat Kohli got out on 44 without adding any run on his overnight total.
Pant played very cautiously and opened his run-account on the 20th ball he faced with a boundary. It was very unlikely for Pant to score at a strike rate of 18.18 after facing 20 plus balls.
The southpaw was caught at slip by Tom Latham as he tried to drive the ball through the off side but managed to get only an edge.
The fans on Twitter didn’t waste any time and started criticizing Pant for playing a rash shot.
Rishabh Pant is one of the most overhyped and inconsistent cricketers at present. Massively overrated.#INDvNZ#WTCFinal pic.twitter.com/rXntDXKWvA
— (@imtheguy007) June 20, 2021
Rishabh pant after spending 15 minutes on ground pic.twitter.com/rOc7rWrwfG
— Super Saiyan (@iam_kakarot69) June 20, 2021
#INDvNZ #WTC2021
What become a strength at Australia become weakness in England for @RishabhPant17 in the swinging environment.
That was a poor shot playing outside the body edging the wide ball to 2nd slip.Pant still remains uncertain prospect for in test matches !!— Rajkumar M (@raj_kumar48) June 20, 2021
Meanwhile, some cricket fans also backed Pant to bounce back and perform better it gets a chance to bat in the second innings.
While Pant does look silly with the way he gets out, he has the will to improve, last time when he got out on 97 against Lyon, he wasn’t touching those outside off deliveries ever in the next game against Lyon, so hope he’ll improve in the upcoming England series
— Udit (@udit_buch) June 20, 2021
Okok ..
Second Innings Manade ♥️#Pant pic.twitter.com/xaV6CHepYz— (@Ravindar123M) June 20, 2021
Team India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane also followed Pant back in Pavillion soon after playing a loose shot. He missed his fifty by just one run. India were 184/6 after 84 overs with Ravichandran Ashwin (15*) and Ravindra Jadeja (11*) in the middle.