GUWAHATI: On days like Monday, Rishabh Pant the batter will face additional scrutiny. Was that shot — charging down the track and trying to hit Marco Jansen to the nearby mountain — necessary? The left-arm seamer was in the middle of an inspirational spell of short-pitched bowling and Pant was keen to set the tempo, dictate the pace of the game even when the game state was against the Indian captain.
At 4/105 and chasing 490 to restore parity in on Day Three, the dice was loaded against him. Jansen saw him come down, changed his length and he only managed a thin edge to the keeper.
But the wicket-keeper doesn't really care about the game state. Off the second ball he faced, he stepped down to hit Simon Harmer for a six over the spinner's head. It's what has given him immense success over the years. It's what has given India all the red-ball glory away from home. Without Pant's madcap methods, Brisbane wouldn't have happened.
In the early stages of that unbeaten 89 in 2021, the southpaw darted down the wicket to one Nathan Lyon delivery but the turn and bounce evaded his swinging blade. It also missed Tim Paine and went for four byes. It was 189/3 when Australia missed this opportunity. There have been other times when Pant has played the percentages and reaped handsome rewards for his risk-taking.
In terms of the risk-taking, this was pretty much on the extreme spectrum but it's on point with his brand. In isolation, his seven off eight put India deeper in the mire and left them needing a rearguard act from the lower-order to save them.
Pant, the captain, will not have liked what Pant, the batter, did. If you want your players to accept responsibility and own your decisions, it should start from up top. That being that the case, Pant knows he has let the team down. Behind the stumps on Sunday, Pant, the keeper, had to remind a few of the fielders that they weren't playing at home. He was especially severe on Kuldeep Yadav, who was warned twice for not starting his over on time. "Yaar," he was heard saying on the stump mic, "30 seconds ka timer hai. Ghar pe khel rahe ho kya? (Are you playing at home?)"
He was demanding ownership and accountability from others so will he be demanding that same thing from himself? Because this was a shot from a man not respecting the situation they were in. That's one way to look at the dismissal.
The other way to look at the dismissal is this. Would it be right for him to curb his natural tendencies just because he's captain? Should it even be as black and white as this? That's even before considering that Pant's attacking game is complimented by a very solid defence.
You can probably make a case for saying that Pant's idea was correct but he was hasty in trying to take down the wrong bowler. Jansen had already got some balls to misbehave and they had no other pacer capable of exploiting the surface like he thanks to his height. So he could have waited for Jansen to finish his spell before taking on the spinners and Wiaan Mulder.
What, though, was truly unforgivable was Pant taking a review to challenge the on-field verdict. He had leathered the ball but was hoping a technological glitch would come to his rescue.