'Disappointment is a very understated word' - Gautam Gambhir criticizes Rishabh Pant for his reckless shot in 2nd SA Test

While the second Test between South Africa and India is turning out to be an absolute cracker of a contest, day three saw India’s wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant getting out in a rather irresponsible manner. While the visitors were in a tricky situation, the keeper-batter went charging down the wicket to deposit the ball into the stands, only for him to get a faint edge which carried to the opposition keeper.

Thus, his dismissal led to several fans and experts criticizing him, as well as his shot. Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir was one of them and was seemingly unimpressed with him. He lashed out at Pant and felt that the keeper-batter should have fought the situation instead of just throwing his wicket away.

“The easier thing to do is to keep sledging someone and the toughest thing is what you have to face when you have a bat in your hand. I would have liked Rishabh to probably fight in that situation rather than stepping out and going for a big one,” said Gambhir on the post-stumps show on Star Sports.

This is not how you should play Test cricket: Gautam Gambhir

While criticizing the 24-year-old, the former Indian opener went on to say that this wasn’t the way to play the longest format of the game. He then gave the example of the Proteas skipper Dean Elgar and urged the youngster to learn from him. He then went on to praise the 34-year-old as well.

“Disappointment is a very, very understated word to be honest because this is not how you should play Test cricket. Test cricket is about learning a lot from Dean Elgar and that’s the reason I have said that a lot of young Indian batters can learn a lot from Dean Elgar as well because when you play against world-class bowlers, they are not going to give you easy runs,” he said.

Post the left-hander’s dismissal in the third innings, Hanuma Vihari and the lower-middle order ensured that the Rahul-led side get to 266. As the hosts have to score 240 to win the second Test and level the series, they got to 118 for the loss of two wickets and thus, need 122 more runs to win.