Young Indian wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant continued his banter with Australian skipper Tim Paine from behind the stumps on the fourth day of the third Test match which is being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne.
Paine, on Friday during India’s second innings, started the banter when he tried to distract Rishabh Pant by asking him to join the Big Bash League (Australia’s T20 domestic tournament) team Hobart Hurricanes.
On Saturday, Pant got his revenge when Paine walked out to bat on the second session of the fourth day of the ongoing third Test match.
As soon as Paine walked in to bat, the 21-year-old stylish Indian keeper-batsman asked Mayank Agarwal, who was standing at the silly point whether he has ever heard of a “temporary captain”. “We got a special guest today. Have you ever heard of a temporary captain, ever, Mayank?” Pant continued.
The Delhi batsman went even further as he told Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who was bowling at that time, that he does not need anything special to get Paine’s wicket as he can only talk. “You don’t need anything to get him out, boy. He loves to talk, that’s the only thing he can do, boy! Only, talking, talking!” Pant was heard as saying behind the stumps.
Interestingly, just at the end of the overs, the on-field umpire Ian Gould went to Pant to warn him about his sledging the Australian captain.
However, surprisingly, no such warning was given to Paine when he was trying to distract Indian batters with his chatters from behind the stumps.
“Big MS (Dhoni) is back in the one-day squad too, we might get him (Pant) down to the Hurricanes… we need a batter. Fancy that, Pantsy? Extend your little Aussie holiday. Beautiful town Hobart too, I’ll get you a nice apartment on the waterfront. (I’ll) have him over for dinner. Can you babysit? I’ll take the wife to the movies one night and you’ll look after the kids,” Paine was heard joking about recruiting Pant to Hurricanes in order to try and distract him in the middle.