New Delhi: Rishabh Pant is a live wire on the field, energizing the atmosphere with his thrilling shots while batting and entertaining antics behind the wicket.
In an interesting situation that unfolded during the first day of the second Test against New Zealand in Pune, Pant was caught on the stump mic telling spinner Washington Sundar to bowl a fuller ball to New Zealand tailender Ajaz Patel.
Pant put forward an offer to Sundar.
Sundar seemed to have followed Pant’s advice and delivered a pitch that turned out to be a little too straight. Ajaz Patel swung along the line and the ball flew to the right of mid-on for four runs.
Patel’s reaction to Sundar’s delivery was a bit disappointing as Pant was overheard saying “Yaar mereko kya pata issey Hindi aati hai”.
In the match, Sundar shone on his return to the Indian side, taking seven wickets as New Zealand were bowled out for 259. By the end of the match in Pune, India had lost captain Rohit Sharma for 9 and were 16 for 1. The ball ducked to a delivery from Tim Southee changed shape and crashed into the stumps off his pads.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored six, and Shubman Gill, who scored 10, were in trouble as the hosts trailed by 243 runs. Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra led New Zealand’s batting effort with scores of 76 and 65 respectively after captain Tom Latham won the toss.
Off-spinner Sundar had an impressive performance of 7 for 59, while fellow off-break bowler Ravichandran Ashwin took 3 for 64 to help dismiss New Zealand in just 79.1 overs.
