Pant delivers laughter sledge in tense Test
NEW DELHI: When Rishabh Pant was picked for the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it signalled two things—India wanted to boost their batting after a record low 36 in the first Test and add a left-hander in the top six to put the formidable Australia pace attack off rhythm at least to an extent.
He contributed a useful 29 off 40 deliveries in one of the crucial partnerships with stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane. His wicketkeeping is still a work in progress—R Ashwin only showed mild annoyance after Pant dropped Pat Cummins—but the 23-year-old scores big in keeping up energy levels with constant chatter from behind the stumps, in contrast to Wriddhiman Saha, the better and quieter ‘keeper. After every delivery, especially if the batsman is beaten or forced to leave, Pant goes “he, he, he, he” from behind the stumps. Australia use sledging as a weapon to shake up the focus of rival players, though experts are asking questions over why this series is “too friendly”. The IPL bonhomie is seen as a major factor.
Monday, the third day of the MCG Test, finally saw some spicy exchanges as Australia struggle to save the game. First left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc began sending down a series of short, rising deliveries to rattle the set Ravindra Jadeja, finally forcing him to hole out to deep midwicket. Starc exulted, going down on one knee with fists pumping. Jadeja, who had turned to walk off, faced the bowler with arms extended as if what the fuss was all about.
There was proper banter though when Australia batted in their second innings. After playing a Jasprit Bumrah delivery, makeshift opener Mathew Wade was irritated with Pant’s laughter routine. “He he he he,” Wade turned around mimicking Pant. “Looking at yourself on the big screen again?”
On the 2018-19 tour when India achieved a historic first Test series win in Australia, the friendly exchanges between home skipper Tim Paine and Pant grabbed media focus.
It was also at the MCG where Paine asked Pant if he would be babysitter for his kids as MS
Dhoni had taken over ‘keeping duties, after being taunted as “temporary captain”.
“Tell you what big MS is back in the one-day squad. Should get this bloke down to (BBL team Hobart) Hurricanes… They need a batter. Fancy that extend your Aussie holiday, beautiful town Hobart too... get him a water front apartment,” Paine was caught on the stump mic as saying. “Have him over for dinner. Do you babysit? I can take my wife to the movies while you watch the kids.”
Pant later posed for a picture with Paine’s wife and two young children, building on the babysitter theme.
“Well Rick (Ponting) knows him quite well — one, he’s very, very good, but two, we early in the series that sledging him was a waste of time. It just didn’t bother him, but what we found was that you could get a real lapse of concentration out of him so we went a bit that way,” Paine explained later.
Indian cricket fans are used to the “shabaash” from many wicketkeepers, including Kiran More, and Nayan Mongia’s “Aigaa” (Oh, no!). Pant has left everyone amused this time with his laughter mimic, which is more a sneer. If at all Australia had drawn elaborate sledging plans, it would have gone waste against the monk-like Ajinkya Rahane, who has taken over as stand-in for skipper Virat Kohli, who returned home after the Adelaide Test for the birth of his first child. Australia, despite going 1-0 up in the series, are in no mood for laughter. They are searching action than words as India, even without Kohli and the injured Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma—Umesh Yadav too limped off on Monday with a calf injury—were in command of the second Test. The most “picturesque” sledge in Australia though does not belong to the hosts. It owes it to the India-Pakistan rivalry—former Pakistan batsman Javed Miandad jumping bat in hand to mimic More’s penchant for serial jumping while appealing, during the 1992 World Cup Down Under.