Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant is regarded as one of the most energetic and entertaining characters on the field. He showed many shades of his sledging stories during his visits to Australia, and now, he is continuing the same in South Africa. This time, his target man is Rassie van der Dussen, the South African number 4 keen to settle his place in the XI.
Dussen and Pant had a go at each other during the Indian second innings. Pant’s stay was cut short by just three deliveries with the batter going for an extravagant swing, only to find an outside edge flying into the hands of the keeper.
But it seemed like the South African got to his mind, which made Pant say, “Keep your mouth shut”. He was dismissed shortly after.
When van der Dussen came out to bat after the dismissal of Keegan Petersen, the batter, as usual, took his guard. He seemed to have forgotten his marking in the soil and took guard once again after batting six deliveries. This prompted a hilarious reaction from the Indian keeper, who went after the 32-year-old batter.
He was caught saying:
“Playing at No.4, but has no idea about the batting guard. Playing as a sledger boy.”
Although this didn’t warrant much of a reaction from the South African cricketer, he will be keen on getting more runs and taking his side to the winning mark whenever he gets out to bat in the final phase of the second Test, with South Africa needing another 122 runs to win.
Indians got a good start on Day 3, with Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara adding a sensational 100-run stand within no time. Despite a middle collapse, Shardul Thakur’s cameo and Hanuma Vihari’s composed knock got the team some valuable runs, and they set a target of 240 runs to win the game.
The Proteas batted well with a counter-attacking approach and lost just two wickets at the stumps of Aiden Markram and Keegan Petersen.
If the Proteas do not get over the line, it will be their first-ever Test series defeat to India in home conditions, a feat the sub-continent side has been chasing for a long time.
