"Utter Nonsense" - Fans slam Rishabh Pant for gifting his wicket away in ENG vs IND 2025 2nd Test 

Fans were critical of Rishabh Pant's knock in the ongoing second Test between India and England on Wednesday (July 2) at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The keeper-batter was dismissed for 25 off 42, which eventually put India in a spot of bother on Day 1.

Batting first, India lost KL Rahul (2) early. Then, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Karun Nair (31) stitched a crucial 80-run stand to keep the visitors in good stead. Thereafter, Jaiswal and skipper Shubman Gill maintained India's dominance with their positive intent.

However, Jaiswal's (87) innings was cut short by England captain Ben Stokes, and reduced India to 161/3. At this point, Pant arrived at the crease to support Gill.

Pant looked comfortable during his stay and was on course to play another impressive knock in the series. However, the southpaw pounced upon Shoaib Bashir's fuller delivery by charging down the track and played a big shot towards the long-on boundary.

Rishabh Pant certainly didn't have his luck going in his favor, as he couldn't clear the fences and was caught by Zak Crawley in the deep. Soon after, Nitish Kumar Reddy (1) was also dismissed by Chris Woakes, as India were struggling at 211/5.

Fans shared their disapproval of Pant's rash shot on the social media platform, X. One of them said:

"Rishabh Pant is very irresponsible today. There is fielder at long on and he intentionally wanted to hit six over the fielders' head for a six but is caught out at a crucial point in time. This is utter nonsense Rishabh."

Here are the other reactions:

"Outrageous. This guy seems like he will score 100 in every Test match but again he proved us all wrong by playing a stupid stroke," one fan posted.

"One shot too many for Rishabh Pant. 😢 Shubman Gill was playing slow but that doesn't mean you are going to attack every bowl," another tweeted.

"Was kind of a check shot. Shud have gone harder by stepping down or shud have just played in gap. That was a trap and temptation for Rishabh Pant ever since he arrived," a fan wrote.

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Rishabh Pant inches closer to Sir Viv Richards in another Test record

The opening Test of the five-match series at Headingley was worth remembering for Rishabh Pant, as he became the first Indian to score twin centuries in England. He also surpassed MS Dhoni's record of seven centuries and became India's most successful keeper-batter in Tests.

In the ongoing fixture, Pant went past Tim Southee (30) to have the second-most sixes against England in the longest format. In 14 appearances, he has slammed 31 sixes, while Sir Viv Richards is at the top with 34 maximums in 36 games.

Notably, Yashasvi Jaiswal is in fourth place with 27 sixes in just seven games. His first red-ball series against England came on home soil in 2024.