Pant looked fluent as he got to 28 off 37 balls after Ravindra Jadeja and he took over India's overnight reply 164 for 5, and the two had almost completed the first hour of play. It's at which point Pant attempted a scoop from outside off towards Scott Boland's leg side, but took a simple catch at third off the leading edge.
“I think earlier, when there were no defensive players, that's when he took those shots, it's understandable because you're taking a really good chance,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports during the lunch break. “That [the shot] was supposed to go on the leg side, which went on the outside side, that actually tells you maybe [there was] a bit of bad luck involved, but terrible selection of a shot to play at that precise moment with two fielders at deep square leg and deep point.
Pant had also attempted an identical shot on the previous ball, in the 56th over, past Boland, but hit it inside his body as he lost his balance. He connected the next ball only slightly better, hit the ground again, but holed out to Nathan Lyon. India were 191 for 5 before falling, still trailing by 283, although with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar leading the way, they found themselves in a good position as the day progressed.
Pant scores many of his runs through unorthodox and attacking shots. Gavaskar pointed out that with two players waiting in the deep for exactly this kind of shot, Pant should have been more judicious.
“It seems like that's the only way he thinks he'll be able to score runs,” Gavaskar said. “So if he can't score points the orthodox way, if he just thinks he's going to go down the court, pound the ball for a long time, or just look to play those shots, which means at Level test, you cannot always succeed. Next, you need to be prepared for the fact that he will sometimes run you a few errands. If that's the case, then he can't bat at #5, he has to bat up the order.
Gavaskar was live on Radio ABC at the time of the dismissal, and said Pant had let India down “badly” by “throwing away” his wicket.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” was Gavaskar’s immediate reaction. “You have two defensive players there, and you still go, you missed the previous shot. And look where you got caught. You have been trapped by the third man. This is throwing away your wicket. Not in the situation India found itself in. You also have to understand the situation, you can't say it's your natural game. I'm sorry, this is not your natural game. It's a stupid move. This is really disappointing your team! »
