‘My retention wasn’t about money for sure’: Pant reveals ahead of IPL auction
India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has revealed that his release from Delhi Capitals squad ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction was not about the money.
India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour has said that India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant wasn’t even aware about the alleged incident of Steve Smith wiping off his batting guard on the final day of the drawn third Test against Australia in Sydney.
Rathour said that the Indian team didn’t know about the purported incident and came to to know about it only after it became viral on social media.
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“We didn’t even know about the incident. It was only after the game and after the media picked it up that we noticed it. As a batsman, Rishabh wasn’t even aware of it. I wouldn’t like to comment on it because it hardly mattered. He was not even aware of it,” said Rathour ahead of the fourth and final Test against Australia beginning Friday at The Gabba.
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A short video emerged of a stump vision camera where Smith – Australia’s premier batsman – was seen shadow batting and rubbing the pitch with his shoe spikes, which many purported as him removing Pant’s batting mark.
However, a couple of days later a longer version of the video did the rounds on social media where it appeared that new lines were being drawn on the crease after Lunch. After the groundsmen did their job Smith went their to shadow-bat and it became clear that the entire incident was blown out of context.
Rathour, the former India opening batsman said that Smith’s form has not ruffled the Indians, who are sticking to the plan they have prepared against them.
“We all know that he is a good player. Our bowlers have been working on specific plans against him and against all the other batters of the Australian team. They have worked so far. But in the last game, he scored some runs. But we still back our plans whatever the bowlers have been discussing among themselves. They still back the plans to get him out,” he added.
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