During India’s maiden T20I loss to Bangladesh in Delhi on Sunday, the fans lashed out at Rishabh Pant, who had a forgettable night as the wicketkeeper-batsman was involved in a couple of decisions that changed the narrative of the match.
Notably, Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah had won the toss and had elected to bowl first in the first T20I of the three-match series against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
During the Indian innings, poor running between the wickets by Pant costed the wicket of opener Shikhar Dhawan, and to add salt to the injury, India lost a review at a crucial point because Pant believed there was an edge however, there wasn’t any.
In the 10th over of Bangladesh’s innings, Pant convinced stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma to go for a DRS after the umpire turned down Pant’s caught behind appeal for the wicket of Bangladesh batsman Soumya Sarkar.
However, it turned out to be a wrong call as the review showed a flat line when the ball went past the bat.
Post the incident, chants of “Dhoni, Dhoni” echoed the stadium with many criticising Pant’s decision-making skills.
See the reaction of Twitterati:
Ridiculous! Disgusting! There’s no second run!#RishabhPant call! Much Settled batsman #Dhawan goes! So #Pant makes it tougher!#IndvsBan #BANvIND #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/9Uf29U5CiG
— BlueCap 🇮🇳 (@IndianzCricket) November 3, 2019
Rishabh pant running between the wickets pic.twitter.com/TcSZE76N6Y
— Sir Yuzvendra (parody) (@SirYuzvendra) November 3, 2019
#IndvsBan @bcci please stop giving chances to Rishabh Pant anymore.
— Jim Mathews (@jimvmathews76) November 3, 2019
#RishabhPant trying to replace #MSDhoni be like pic.twitter.com/c6UzadY69L
— Ajay Karnati (@AjayDHFC) November 4, 2019
Rohit Sharma after believing on #RishabhPant review. pic.twitter.com/g6y6hTdG2r
— नादान परिंदे🇮🇳 (@Gauri_doonite) November 3, 2019
Talking about the match, the Bangladeshi bowlers choked the Indian juggernaut and let the hosts post only 148 for six on the board in the 20 overs, before chasing down the target with 3 balls to spare.