Former Indian batter Virender Sehwag has taken a cheeky dig at Rishabh Pant over him not finishing the match in the 42nd over in the third and final ODI against England on Sunday (July 17) at Old Trafford.
When Team India needed 24 runs at the start of the 42nd over, Pant smashed five consecutive boundaries against David Willey, but he failed to hit a yorker for a six or four, and he ended up scoring 21 runs in that over with three runs left to win.
Reacting to the left-hander’s inability to finish the match in that over, Sehwag said that he would have tried to hit the sixth ball of Willey’s over for a four or a six, and even Pant could have done that.
However, Pant went on to play an unbeaten knock of 125 runs off 113 balls and scored the winning runs, as India won the match by 5 wickets to clinch the series with a 2-1 margin against England on Sunday.
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Virender Sehwag said at the post-match show on Sony Sports Network: “If he had hit a four in that over, the match would have gotten over and an extra run would not have been scored. If Rishabh Pant wanted, he could have finished it not only with a four but a six. If I was there, I would have definitely tried to hit a four or a six.”
The former opener was happy that Pant played till the end. He continued, “The good thing is that he only finished it, he only hit the last four to finish it. It was enjoyable to watch, we all were expecting that Rishabh Pant will play such innings in ODI cricket, he has played only 27 matches and an amazing knock like this has come in that now.
It has come at the right time when four batters from the top had been dismissed. I didn't expect that he will play till the end because a time was going to come when his back was going to be broken and it would have been broken as well when he stepped out to Moeen Ali.”
Sehwag also mentioned that Hardik Pandya (71) released the pressure off Pant as he was seen playing some intelligent shots against England.
He signed off by saying, “After that Hardik Pandya probably controlled him as there was a period when he was between 18 to 30 runs, he could have gotten out there, but he didn't get out because Hardik Pandya released the pressure from him. Then he batted intelligently, when a batter scores 30-40 runs, his shot selection becomes better, which Rishabh Pant showed.”
