"Rishabh Pant Needs to Understand His Role in the Team": Rohit Sharma

Rishabh Pant’s wicket in the second innings of the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on 30th December (Monday) was the moment from which India started slipping and losing wickets frequently and thus lost the match by 184 runs.

While Pant was there with Yashaswi Jaiswal, it looked like both the teams would settle for a draw as the Indian left handed batsmen anchored the innings against the Aussie pacers and put on 88 runs for the fourth wicket in 195 balls which was all the more important.

However, Pant was out early in the second innings as well after a rather uneventful first session; he fell for a loose ball from Travis Head as the third session began and was caught by Mitchell Marsh at the boundary. It was a suicidal pull, a very uncharacteristic shot of Pant, just like the one he played in the first innings. Pant was batting at a good position in both the innings and had scored 28 (37) and 30 (104) respectively.

Reacting to his dismissal, India captain Rohit Sharma said in the post-match press conference, "It just happened. There hasn’t been any discussion about it today. Everyone is disappointed."

“Rishabh Pant needs to understand what is required of him. More than anyone telling us, he needs to figure it out himself. As a captain there is mixed reaction to it,” the Indian captain said.

“Sometimes you want to back him the way he bats and sometimes it just frustrates. As a captain, it is hard to have conversations. There is a fine line on how to tell him to do something and not to do something,” he added.