Former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel wasn’t really impressed with the Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant’s constant chirping at Rassie van der Dussen behind the stumps during the recently concluded second Test at Wanderers, Johannesburg.
Pant is already struggling for runs, scoring only one half-century in 13 innings, and his three-ball duck in the second innings of the second Test in Johannesburg has put him under pressure, with many former cricketers criticizing him for his reckless shot selection.
Well, Morkel admitted that there is room for harmless sledging and some fun banter on the field, but in the case of Pant, the left-hander is presently looking out of touch with the bat, and at such a time, it would not be good for him to engage in constant tirades from behind the stumps.
He further suggested the 23-year-old Pant make some noise with the bat rather than behind the stumps, as his place in India’s Test Playing XI would come under scrutiny after another few failures.
Morkel said on The Byju’s Cricket Live Show in Star Sports: “For me, Pant is a quality player but I would rather let the bat do the talking at the moment than him behind the stumps. I reckon before you know, a couple of low scores and he's going to find himself in trouble there... fighting for a spot in the team. I'm quite surprised with that.”
The former pacer also shared his views on the heated exchange between Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah and South African pacer Marco Jansen.
Bumrah and Jansen, who played together for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2021, were involved in a heated argument and the on-field umpire, Marais Erasmus, had to intervene to calm things down during the second Test in Johannesburg.
Morkel signed off by saying, “Bumrah's response was an interesting one for me. For me, I feel that it's the heat of the moment for fast bowlers, they bowl short to each other. It was sort of Bumrah's response in England to Jimmy Anderson... it was sort of a remake. Also, Bumrah responded and hit Kagiso Rabada for a six. Emotions are going to flare up every now and then. It takes an instance where they are at each other's face.”
