Rishabh Pant got one back at Tim Paine for the banter he was subjected to while he was batting as the Australian captain came to the crease to bat on Day 4 of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne on Saturday. Pant was teased by Paine over MS Dhoni’s inclusion back in the T20I side and his exclusion, telling him they could use him at Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League.
On Saturday, Pant welcomed Paine to the crease with some banter of his own calling him a “temporary captain” and telling Ravindra Jadeja that Paine only knows how to talk.
“We have got a special guest here. Have you heard the word temporary captain ever. You [Jadeja] don’t need anything to get him out. Come on lads.
“He loves to talk, that’s the only thing he can do. Only talking talking,” Pant sledged from behind the stumps which was picked up by the stump mic.
It was Rishabh Pant's turn for some fun on the stump mic today… #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/RS8I6kI55f
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 29, 2018
After the end of the over, on-field umpire Ian Gould had a word with Pant and was seen explaining him something.
The behind-the-stumps banter has been a regular feature of the last two Tests matches between India and Australia.
On Friday, Pant used Dhoni’s reference to sledge Pant and asked him if he could babysit for him.
“Tell you what big MS is back in the one day squad. Should get this bloke down to Hurricanes.. They need a batter.
“Fancy that extend you Aussie holiday, beautiful town Hobart too… get him a water front apartment”
“Have him over for dinner.
“Do you babysit? I can take my wife to the movies while you watch the kids,” Pant bantered.
Earlier in the match, Paine even sledged Rohit Sharma and tried to distract him by having IPL conversations with Aaron Finch, who was fielding at short leg.
“It’s a bit of a toss up between Royals and Indians for me. But if Rohit hits a six now, I’m changing to Mumbai.”
“You’ve nearly played for every team now,” Paine said. “Except Bangalore,” replied Finch.
“Except Bangalore?” Paine questioned.
Paine also took to sledging during the Perth Test against Murali Vijay saying, “Murali, I know he’s your captain. But you can’t seriously like him as a bloke.”
Paine had a run-in with Indian captain Virat Kohli as well, something that created a bit of a controversy with the idea if things crossed the line. However, both captains played down the incident by saying it was all on the field.
Kohli was rumoured to have said to Paine that he was the best player in the world while Paine was just a stand-in captain. However, BCCI negated the rumours saying Kohli had said nothing of that sort.
“If he messes it up, it’s 2-0,” Kohli was heard saying, which was picked up by the microphone after he and his teammates made a loud caught-behind appeal for Paine in the final over of the day.
Paine did not hold himself back and replied “You’ve got to bat first, big head”.
On Day 4, Kohli even almost ran into Paine while fielding with Paine saying, “You’re the one that lost it yesterday. Why are you trying to be cool today?”
After the incident, on-field umpire Chris Gaffaney had to intervene and tell them to behave like captains.
