India head coach Gautam Gambhir is facing the flak on social media for his comments on Rishabh Pant, following Shubman Gill and co's loss against England by five wickets in the first Test of the five-match series at Headingley, Leeds on Tuesday. The left-handed batter had a match to remember as he slammed centuries in both innings, becoming just the second wicketkeeper-batter in the history of the game after Andy Flower to achieve the feat.
The southpaw smashed 134 and 118 in the Headingley Test, accumulating a total of 252 runs. He is now the seventh Indian batter to score centuries in both innings of a Test. He is the first Indian batter to do so in England.
After England chased down 371 in Headingley to gain a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, Gautam Gambhir came to address reporters, and it was then that one journalist decided to ask him about Pant.
The former India opening batter was asked to give his thoughts on Pant's heroics, following his twin centuries. However, Gambhir ended up getting annoyed at the question, saying the journalist should have also mentioned the other three centurions - KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
“There are 3 more centuries as well, those are big positives too. Thank you, I would have liked it if you would have said that 100 from Yashasvi, 100 from Shubman on debut as captain, 100 from KL, and 2 centuries from Rishabh," said Gambhir.
"So, 5 centuries in a Test match. It's a great start to be honest, and hopefully the question could have been better," he added.
Fans slam Gautam Gambhir on social media
Several fans on social media are now expressing their displeasure with Gambhir's treatment of Rishabh Pant and his lack of mention of his brilliance in the press conference. The fans also urged Rishabh Pant to keep performing.
Here are some of the fan tweets:
Speaking at the post-match presentation, India captain Shubman Gill also mentioned Rishabh Pant dropping a catch off Ravindra Jadeja's bowling. Fans are also expressing their fury over Gill's remarks.
“He (Jadeja) bowled brilliantly, I think he did produce some chances for us, a few pop-ups that Rishabh didn’t see, but that happens in a game of cricket,” said Gill.
Coming back to Rishabh Pant, the wicketkeeper-batter achieved his career-best Test ranking of seven following his twin centuries.
Following the loss in Headingley, India would now travel to Edgbaston for the second Test. The 2nd match will begin on July 2.