''Enough is enough!"- Michael Vaughan on Rishabh Pant's dreadful shot selection in The Oval Test
Former England cricketer-turned pundit Michael Vaughan has come down hard on India’s wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant for his dreadful shot selection on the opening day of the Oval Test.
Speaking with Harsha Bhogle on CricBuzz, Vaughan suggested that Pant is too good a player to get out in the manner in which he did in the Oval Test. Vaughan said:
"Rishabh Pant's dismissal….it's now enough is enough! It can't be that that's the way he plays. He is a better player than that. By dancing down the wicket, he is moving his head, he can't have a base to swing. He is too good a player to be getting out in that fashion."
Rishabh Pant endured another horror outing in the ongoing five-match Test series as he managed a 33-ball 9 on the opening day of the Oval Test.
More than the lack of runs, it was the manner in which Pant got out that has attracted sharp criticism.
Pant has regularly tried to hit his way out of trouble in the Test series but on each occasion, the result has been fatal.
The same happened during the first day of the Oval Test as the 23-year-old charged down the track to hit Chris Woakes over the cover-region.
The only issue was that Woakes proceeded to outfox Pant by bowling a 69 mph off-cutter. The bat turned in Pant's hand and he proceeded to give Moeen Ali a simple catch at wide mid-off.
"It was a clever move" - Michael Vaughan on India's ploy to promote Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Ajinkya Rahane
India made a tactical move on the first morning of the Oval Test when they promoted Ravindra Jadeja ahead of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane.
The move attracted a mixed response. However, Michael Vaughan termed the ploy 'clever'.
The former England cricketer reckoned that with the home side's seamers bowling so well against the right-handers, getting a southpaw in the middle was a good tactical maneuver irrespective of the end result.
The move didn't pay off as Jadeja was eventually dismissed by Chris Woakes for a 34-ball 10 in the post-lunch session.
However, Vaughan opined that India should try the same ploy in their second innings to put England's seamers off their length. He said:
"I didn't mind it tactically. I thought the England seamers were bowling so well to the right-handers. I think that was quite a clever move to bring a left-hander. It didn't work because Jadeja didn't get a big score.
"But for that little period with Virat Kohli and Jadeja batting, I thought it looked quite calm. And, if I was India,it's the kind of move I will be looking to do again in the second innings whatever the situation is."