New Delhi: Former South African pace bowler Dale Steyn hilariously reacted to the dismissal of Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant during the fourth day of the ongoing first Test match between India and New Zealand played at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Despite concerns over his fitness, Pant played another crackling knock on Saturday to help India turnover the 356-run deficit from the first innings and pushed to set a valuable target. After the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Sarfaraz Khan build the momentum for a fightback, it was the Indian gloveman who accelerated the team’s innings with the fire and gumption displayed in his strokes.
He hammered nine boundaries and five sixes, striking over the rate of 94, but missed the seventh Test hundred after getting cleaned up by New Zealand pace bowler William O’Rourke. The short length from the lanky pacer hit the timber in Pant’s hand and the ball soon crashed into the stumps.
Steyn took to his official X handle to share his incident to watch Pant bat, but only to his surprise, the Indian player was dismissed the moment the South African tuned into the coverage. Responding to performance analyst Prasanna Lara’s tweet on Pant hitting Tim Southee for a six, Steyn wrote:
“I think I jinxed him… I saw your tweet, jumped up to watch on tv and first ball I watch he gets bowled.”
I think I jinxed him…
I saw your tweet, jumped up to watch on tv and first ball I watch he gets bowled 🙈— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) October 19, 2024
Rishabh Pant didn’t show up on field later
Rishabh Pant missed the most part of the wicketkeeping duties during New Zealand’s first innings, including the whole part of Day 3. Indian captain Rohit Sharma said they took a precautionary measure to keep Pant out of the field after he suffered swelling on his knee.
Surprisingly, Pant didn’t return to the field on Friday to keep the wickets after his blistering show with the willow. It was Dhruv Jurel once again into the act.
