New Delhi:
Rishabh Pant has been under the scanner for the long time over his keeping and batting in Twenty20 Internationals. During the Delhi match, he misjudged the DRS and took a wrong one which helped Bangladesh beat India for the first time in Twenty20 Internationals. In the Rajkot match, things got even worse for Pant and in bizarre circumstances. Bangladesh were inserted into bat and the openers, Mohammad Naim and Liton Das started aggressively. In the seventh over of the innings, there was controversy and in once again involved Pant.
Yuzvendra Chahal was the bowler and he lured Liton out of the crease with a brilliant legbreak that spun away outside off. Pant collected the ball and whipped the bails off to effect an easy stumping. However, umpire Shamshuddin had other ideas as he went to the third umpire. Replays showed that when Pant collected the ball, his glove was marginally just ahead of the stumps on collection. Under the rules, if a keeper collects the ball in front of the stumps, the batsman is not out and the ball is declared a no-ball.
The third umpire overturned the decision and Liton made Chahal pay with two consecutive boundaries. The batsman went on to survive a dropped catch as he top-edged Washington Sundar to square leg where Rohit dropped the catch. However, Pant redeemed himself in grand style as Liton was run-out by the Delhi keeper. The batsman played down the wrong line to a googly and was hit on the back pad, Pant appealed but Liton did not know where the ball was and set off for the run. The batsman was sent back and Pant, alert to the situation, ran forward, turned and scored a direct hit. The ball just hit the leg stump and India got the breakthrough.
There was another moment of tension in the field when Chahal got rid of Soumya Sarkar. The third umpire once again checked and Pant was on the borderline when he was affecting the stumping. However, the third umpire pressed the wrong button and the signal was not out. However, it was immediately changed to OUT and Pant heaved a huge sigh of relief. It was perhaps not the ideal way to effect his first stumping in the format.
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In the Delhi match, Pant was heavily criticised for his DRS misjudgment with skipper Rohit Sharma defending the youngster, stating that he needed more time to understand the system. With his unfortunate mistake in Rajkot, the pressure will grow on Pant but only a good performance with the bat will only boost his confidence.
