Bumrah and Pant are drawing social media backlash for their comments.
South African batting coach Ashwell Prince said they will not discuss Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant's 'bauna' (dwarf) remark on Temba Bavuma during the opening day’s play in the Kolkata Test.
The incident unfolded in the 13th over of South Africa’s innings when Bumrah trapped Bavuma in front of the wickets and made a loud appeal for LBW. But the Indian pacer’s appeal was ignored by the on-field umpire, and then he got involved in a hilarious discussion with his teammates for review.
During the discussion, Bumrah and wicketkeeper Pant’s stump-mic chatter for the Proteas captain caught everyone’s attention.
In a video going viral on social media, Bumrah can be heard saying, “Bauna bhi to hai yeh," referring to Bavuma’s short stature.
On the other hand, Pant was caught saying on the stump-mic, “Bauna hai but yaha pe laga hai, yaha pe”, suggesting Bumrah not to waste the review.
While walking back towards the bowling crease, Bumrah once again said in frustration, "Bauna bhi hai yeh b*******" as they discussed the height of where the ball struck the batter.
Bumrah and Pant might have been drawing social media backlash for their comments, but Prince refused to read too much into it.
“No. There will be no discussion," Prince told reporters after the end of the first day’s play at the Eden Gardens. “It’s the first time it’s come to my attention. I don’t think there’ll be any issues with what’s happened," he added.
Bavuma was eventually dismissed in the 16th over by Kuldeep Yadav for 3 off 11 balls. At the time of his dismissal, the tourists were 71/3 and then they suffered a miserable collapse to be bowled out for 159 in 55 overs.
Before the close of play, India reached 37/1 in 20 overs with KL Rahul (13*) and Washington Sundar (6*) unbeaten in the middle.
Reflecting on his team’s batting performance, Prince said: “Siraj, in his first spell, did not quite hit his steps. However, he came back in his second spell when he changed ends, and it was pretty good. Found his rhythm and found his line in there. But Bumrah was relentless and the spinners were pretty good as well.”
“So I think there were quite a few good deliveries and sometimes there’s batters. There’s not a lot you can do about them. We’ve got to work hard. A long way to go in the game. And hopefully, we’ll do better in the second innings,” he further remarked.