"Alexa, how to play a careless shot? - ask Rishabh Pant" - Fans slam Indian wicketkeeper-batsman for yet another failure in England

A distraught Rishabh Pant (L) walks back as Ollie Robinson celebrates.

Rishabh Pant has fallen from being the apple of every Indian eye a few months ago to a "fraud" and "blind slogger". The drop in reputation came as the young wicketkeeper-batsman once again failed to score big in England and got out for a nine-ball two at Headingley.

Rishabh Pant's wicket, coming off a lazy, unwarranted push to a short delivery outside the off-stump, reduced India to 58-5 in the first innings. It also gave Ollie Robinson his second wicket of the day after the right-handed pacer dismissed Ajinkya Rahane with a leaveable delivery.

Fans on Twitter fumed at the wicket, digging out Rishabh Pant's lowly stats in England and complaining about his old tendency to fail to play according to the situation. The following are the best of the reactions:

#ENGvIND

Fifth catch for Jos Buttler as India lose half their side with Rishabh Pant's dismissal.

📹: Sony Sportspic.twitter.com/kuR2dGF5gM
— The Field (@thefield_in) August 25, 2021

Rishabh pant taking lightly to his place
— NPS (@ATULKUM42569084) August 25, 2021

Rishabh Pant dismissal …
It was a bad shot even if this would have been a T-20 .#INDvENG
— Saleel Kulkarni (@KulkarniSaleel) August 25, 2021

lowest averages for a top 6 batter for India in England since 2000 (min. 5 innings):

Suresh Raina - 13.12
Gautham Gambhir - 14.25
Rishabh Pant - 16.50
Shikhar Dhawan - 20.50
Wasim Jaffer - 24.40
— Will 🚾 (@ohlookitswill_) August 25, 2021

I can't watch when Rishabh Pant is at the crease.

This is absurd.
— Abhishek Mukherjee (@SachinAzharCT) (@ovshake42) August 25, 2021

Hey cricket experts, please send me your gyan ka samundar:
'This is how Rishabh Pant plays, leave him alone'
Theek hai 🙏#INDvENG #RishabhPant
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) August 25, 2021

#ENGvIND

What to do with special talent #rishabhpant

He was already in hurry to get run out 🤣🤣

Can India get some normal players rather special talent like Rishabh or Test Specialist like Pujara
— ABHAY KUMAR (@krknowledge2021) August 25, 2021

Rishabh Pant is a clown in front of Md Rizwa. https://t.co/oNP6FI6By0
— DanielBhai86Fan (@DanielBhai86) August 25, 2021

You cannot play in attacking mode in England. You have to respect good balls. Hitting every ball can and would go to slip cordon or to the wicket keeper. #RishabhPant should understand that. Different situations requires different styles.#INDvENG #IndvsEng @ICC @vikrantgupta73
— Chandramouly Pandey (@Chandupandey07) August 25, 2021

Rishabh Pant scores in England Test

24,
1,
0,
18,
5,
114👌🏼
4,
41,
25,
37,
22,
2*#ENGvIND
— STATS collector (@onlyforstats) August 25, 2021

Rishabh Pant. U r what we used to call in childhood days a “Munda player”. No situational awareness whatsoever. Again out in exact same fashion. Like Shubhman Gill, u should not be playing test cricket too. U don’t have the grit for it. Hotheaded nonsense
— Dr Asha Prakash Mohapatra, MD (@apm_kidsdoc) August 25, 2021

BYE BYE Blind Slogger fraud Rishabh Pant. 🤣🤣🤣
— Warrior.⚔️ (@CricWarrior36) August 25, 2021

When commentators say "dangerous Rishabh Pant" they mean dangerous for India. #ENGvsIND
— B* (@EdgedAndGone) August 25, 2021

Watching Rishabh Pant is equal parts thrilling and frustrating.
— Shubham Chaturvedi (@shubham_1510) August 25, 2021

Blind slogger and luckiest player in universe rishabh pant 🤣🤣🤣 next match anderson will remove his pants during game 🤣🤣🤣
— Zainab Khan 🇵🇰 (@ZBKhanp) August 25, 2021

Alexa how to play careless shot. Ask Rishabh Pant.
— Sai krishna V (@Sai6732) August 25, 2021

Just when I was saying, Rishabh Pant should stand for the team. He broke.
Why should he be considered exceptional (comparing with Dhoni and all)#engvsindia #IndvsEng https://t.co/JJz2bDaAkw
— Ankit …..अंक़ित (@ankitmathur4u) August 25, 2021

Rohit Sharma in spotlight after Rishabh Pant's wicket

Although Rishabh Pant is currently taking the lion's share of criticism, he wasn't the only one who played a poor shot and failed to make it count on Wednesday. Apart from Rohit Sharma, all of India's top-six specialist batsmen either went for avoidable expansive drives - read Virat Kohli - or played away from their bodies.

Amidst all this, Sharma looked the only one to have kept his focus intact after the euphoric win at Lord's. He has played late, avoided everything outside off-stump and ensured all his edges fall short of fielders due to his short hands.

However, the senior opener was still nowhere near a substantial total when Rishabh Pant got out. He, too, let his guard down and fell to the short-ball ploy for the umpteenth time in the series, walking back for a 105-ball 19.

Ravindra Jadeja will have to do what he has done so far in the series - bide his time until the right moment - and push the score as much as possible. India's hopes are pinned on their tail which don't draw historic confidence but are coming off some recent success. England, meanwhile, are all charged up and deservedly so.

Who'll prevail? Only time will tell.