Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa slammed KL Rahul and India’s mindset after they suffered a 22-run loss at Lord’s against England. On the third day’s play, Rahul wanted to reach his century and asked Pant to give him the strike before lunch.
Pant took a risky single and could not make his ground as England captain Ben Stokes directly hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end. India was cruising at 248-3 at that stage but Pant was dismissed after scoring 74 runs and the run-out ended a 141-run alliance between the two batters.
Soon after the lunch break, Rahul was able to get to his hundred but was dismissed right after reaching his personal milestone.
“Did anyone ask him why he deemed getting his 100 important before the lunch break? There must have been a reason. Why was that a thought? Why was that deeply considered? If someone asked him why, we would have gotten to the bottom of this whole thing about milestones,” Uthappa said on his YouTube channel.
The former KKR batter said Pant and Rahul could have been planning to take the attack to the opposition after the lunch break.
“I reckon the communication between Rahul and Pant would have been you know what, I think we need to take the attack on, we both are set. If I can get my 100 before lunch, then we can take the attack to them immediately after, and then you can hold fort (Rishabh) while I take the attack on and lets get these guys out of the game completely. That perhaps was the thought process,” he explained.
The former flamboyant batter said that the personal milestone matters for Indian players, which is not the right thing in a team’s sport.
“I don’t think these numbers would matter for an Australian or an English player in the long run. But for an Indian player, it matters. A hundred matters. It means a lot more because it means a lot more to the Indian media and critics alike. So hundreds and milestones are a big thing,” he said.
The fourth Test match between England and India will be played at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, from July 23 onwards.
