The first India vs England Test is poised at a very critical juncture. India are leading England by 150-odd runs on Day 4. However, with the strong batting line-up that England has even a 300 -run target may not be enough if India want to start the five-match series with a win. On Day 4, India lost the wicket Shubman Gill early on. After that, KL Rahul was joined by Rishabh Pant. While Rahul batted in a way that was called ‘classical music’, Pant’s style was called ‘hip hop’ by the commentators. 

On couple of occasions, Pant got reprieves while attempting out of the box shots. Seeing the shots, Sunil Gavaskar termed Rishabh Pant as ‘unpredictable’. Harsha Bhogle and Cheteshwar Pujara were also part of the commentary panel. One of them said, the stump mic had caught KL Rahul as telling Pant: “Dekh ke maaro.”

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik said that Pant needs to think about the team total.

“Whatever Rishabh Pant is doing, it’s not helping. If I were KL Rahul, all I’d tell Rishabh Pant right now is play the way you want, but our goal is to try and get the team a huge partnership. It could mean get to 200, could mean get to lunch, whatever will work for him. Instead of telling him to be careful or not to play this shot, I don’t think those messages sit well with him,” said Dinesh Karthik while commentating.

“It’s the language that you want to use. Our bigger goal is to get to 200, 220. And then if he still wants to go ahead and do that, thinking that’s the best way to get there, fair enough. It’s interesting because I was speaking to Cheteshwar Pujara, and he said that sometimes he gave information that says just be careful, lunch is around the corner, he felt it curbed his instinct and didn’t get the best out of Rishabh Pant.”

Dinesh Karthik added that there is a certain way to communicate thing to Rishabh Pant. 

“But if he just said things like Chris Woakes is looking to bowl outswing and the odd one is coming back in, just pass very bland information, very straightforward information, but more tactical, it seemed to work for Rishabh Pant because then he found out his way of scoring runs,” said Dinesh Karthik.

“And also whatever Rishabh Pant is doing, he’s got to understand that it’s just not about him. There is a team, there’s a bigger goal, but most importantly, there’s a partner there, KL Rahul, who’s in great rhythm, in a very good zone, and he shouldn’t be doing anything to put him away. They need to forge a partnership. He’s the vice captain of the Indian team. He knows what that responsibility means to him.”