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BGT – Aus vs India MCG Test – Rohit says Pant needs to figure out the risk-reward game himself


India captain Rohit Sharma has said Rishabh Pant needs to figure out “the right way to do things” for himself and the team, while acknowledging that his high-risk methods had brought spectacular success in the past.
Rohit was reacting to a question about Pant’s dismissals in India’s defeat at the MCG, where he was caught in scooping at third man in the first innings and pulled a long hop to deep midwicket in the second when the team was fighting for a draw.

“It’s [Pant’s dismissal] just happened, there hasn’t been any discussion about today,” Rohit said. “Obviously we’ve lost the game, everybody is disappointed about how things panned out … But again look, Rishabh Pant obviously he needs to understand what is required from himself.

“More than anyone of us telling him, it’s about him understanding and figuring out what’s the right way to go about it. In the past, he has given us lot of success doing what he does. As a captain, there’s a kind of mixed reaction to that.”

“Sometimes you want to back that thought of him playing the way he plays, sometimes when things don’t look good, it frustrates everyone. That is what it is, that’s the reality. It’s the success and failure – need to be balanced about it. As captain it’s hard to have conversation when it has given him a lot of success as well. But it’s about him figuring out what is the right way to do things, it’s about situations as well. Certain situations of the game, if there’s a risk percentage, do you want to take that risk? Do you want to let the opposition come back into the game? Those are the things he need to figure out himself.”

“I’ve known Rishabh for a long time, understand his cricket as well … In terms of conversations, no way I can say I’ve not had a chat with him or he doesn’t understand what the term expects. He understands that. But things that he does gives him results as well, just the fine line between telling him not to do those things or telling him to do those things.”

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was severely critical of Pant’s shot selection in the first innings of the MCG Test, when he holed out to third man for 28 off 37 balls while attempting a scoop off Scott Boland. On Monday, Pant’s dismissal for 30 off 104 balls while attempting to pull Travis Head broke a resolute partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal. India had batted through the entire second session without losing a wicket, but lost seven in the final session – beginning with Pant – to collapse for 155 in the last hour of the day.

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