Rishabh Pant channeled his inner Rohit Sharma as the stand-in-captain blasted Kuldeep Yadav for taking long to start a over on the second day of the ongoing second Test against South Africa in Guwahati. Pant is on leadership duty after regular skipper Shubman Gill was ruled out of the Test series following a neck injury sustained during the first Test.
The Indian bowlers have been on the receiving end from the start of day two as Kyle Verreynne and Senuran Muthusamy dominated play with a 88-run stand. Amid all these, instead of showing aggression on the field, the Indian players took their own sweet time to get into their positions, which frustrated Pant, who let his feelings be known to his teammates.
With the timer running out, Pant lashed out at Kuldeep, who was unable to start his over on time. “Yaar, 30 seconds ka timer hai. Ghar pe khel rahe ho kya? Ek ball daal jaldi. (The timer is on. Are you playing at your home? Just bowl the ball quickly,” Pant was caught on stump mic as saying.
With Pant letting his emotions out, it reminded of the time when Rohit Sharma was the Indian captain. The 38-year-old, who has already quit Tests and T20Is, was known for keeping his players on their toes the entire match, be it in the longest format or in ODIs.
In the process, Pant received a second warning by umpire Richard Kettleborough during the 88th over for not starting the over on time. Earlier, Pant got a first warning in the 45th over on Day 1.
What does ICC rule say for not starting over on time?
According to an International Cricket Council's (ICC) updated rules, the fielding team has to start an over within one minute of the previous over ending. The fielding team will get two warnings. From the third warning onwards, the batting team will get rich by five runs every time the rule is not followed.
The development is a part of stop clock rule in Test matches that came into effect at the start of 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. The rule will be reset after every 80 overs. The stop-clock rule is already into effect in white-ball cricket involving Full Members since June 1, 2024.