Rishabh Pant scored 41 runs India's 2nd innings of the WTC final.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that Rishabh Pant should have batted a little more sensibly during India's second innings in the WTC 2021 final against New Zealand.
Team India suffered a disappointing 8-wicket loss in the WTC final against New Zealand in Southampton. The Virat Kohli-led side displayed a poor batting performance on the reserve day of the final and was bundled out for just 170 in their second innings.
Rishabh Pant gave Indian fans some hope by scoring 41 off 88 balls with four boundaries but the southpaw gave away his wicket by dancing down the wicket to Trent Boult, managing to hit the ball in the air while attempting a big shot and was caught by Henry Nicholls.
In a discussion on Star Sports, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan criticized Rishabh Pant saying that the wicketkeeper-batsman should have shown more responsibility.
"I know Rishabh Pant plays very well in a destructive fashion. But destructive batting doesn't mean that you walk down the wicket to pace bowlers and try to hit them out of the ground. Some responsibility was required," Irfan Pathan said on Star Sports.
Pathan said that Team India displayed a disappointing batting performance in the second innings. He pointed out that the Virat Kohli-led side could have batted more responsibly as the ball was not moving.
"If we talk about proper cricketing reasons where we went wrong in this match, it was even after the first innings. But after that, the second innings batting was extremely disappointing because the ball was not moving that much in the second innings. So, they could have batted more responsibly there,” he said.
Irfan Pathan further said that Indian batsmen should have seen the short stuff through rather than playing the pull shot.
He added that Virat Kohli-led side could have gone ahead with an extra batsman, preferably a seam-bowling all-rounder who could have given some additional overs as well.
"I also felt that when they were bowling the bouncers against the Indian batsmen, they were trying to play the pull shot instead of taking it on the body. It means there a slight shortage of commitment was also seen.
"They played a batsman short. I was saying this even before the Test match started but that is my thinking. Then we do not have a fast-bowling all-rounder like New Zealand have. Getting one in is also slightly difficult,” he concluded.
Team India will next take on England in the five-Test series which will start on 4th August at Trent Bridge.
(Star Sports inputs)