Team India keeper-batter Rishabh Pant has opened up on his sledging episode during the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series Down Under. The keeper-batter revealed that he often sledges politely and likes to give it back when the opposition begins it.
Pant, who has grown to be one of India's biggest match-winners in red-ball cricket, sledged the likes of Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon in the 2018-19 series in Australia. With Paine stepping up as captain in the wake of Steve Smith facing a ban, the visiting keeper-batter referred to him as 'temporary captain'.
Speaking in a video uploaded by Star Sports, the youngster claimed:
"Koi sochke sledge nahin karta yaar. Mera hai ki mujhe koi bole mujhe pasand nahin hai. Toh main pyaar se karta hoon. Toh woh mereko bolne lag gaye. Woh log vahi bol rahe they, 'Big MS is there', khelne aaja T20, Hobart se ek badhiya apartment deta hoon, mere bacche ko babysit kariyo. Maine bhi phir ek do cheezein bol di."
(Nobody plans and do it. But I don't like it when someone does it, so I sledge politely. They were saying things like 'Big MS is here, 'Come and play T20 cricket in Hobart, you'll get a good apartment, babysit my kids'. I also said a few things.)
Rishabh Pant had been a thorn in India's way during the previous series:
The Uttrakhand-born cricketer was magnificent when India toured Australia to play four Tests in 2020-21. The left-handed batter had come into the team only from the second Test and struck a swashbuckling 97 in the 3rd Test in Sydney to help India salvage an unlikely draw.
However, it was his innings of 89 in the following Test in Brisbane to help India gun down 328 that earned him all the plaudits. Pant averages a healthy 62.40 in 7 Tests against Australia.
