Rohit Sharma wants Pant to find balance between aggression and recklessness

MELBOURNE: India captain Rohit Sharma said Rishabh Pant must learn to temper his aggression with the bat after yet another reckless dismissal triggered a collapse that culminated in defeat by Australia in the fourth Test on Monday.

Wicketkeeper-batter Pant has produced several match-defining knocks with his take-no-prisoners approach, which has also made the 27-year-old a fan favourite.

However, his aggression has also been his undoing at times.

The left-hander made 28 runs in the first innings at Melbourne Cricket Ground before losing his wicket to an ill-advised scoop shot against Scott Boland.

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It was a shot which let former India great Sunil Gavaskar screaming “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” into his microphone during his radio stint on ABC Sport.

In the second innings, with the match in the balance, Pant was out trying to pull part-time spinner Travis Head from outside the off-stump.

India had been cruising at 121-3 at the time, but lurched to all out for 155 as Australia went 2-1 up in the five-match series and put one hand on the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

“It’s about him understanding and figuring out what is the right way to go about it,” Rohit said after India’s loss by 184 runs.

“In the past, he’s given us a lot of success doing what he does. So as a captain there is a kind of mixed reaction to that.

“It’s about (match) situation as well. If there is a risk percentage in certain situation of the game, do you want to take that risk? Do you want to let the opposition come back into the game? Those are the things he needs to figure out himself.”

While India’s frontline batters – barring opener Yashasvi Jaiswal – flopped again, the defeat also highlighted the tourists’ over-reliance on pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

Comfortably the leading wicket-taker in the series, Bumrah bowled 53.2 overs in the match - the highest in the 44 Tests he has played.

Rohit accepted they risked over-bowling his deputy. “Every Test match we play, we keep in mind the workloads of all the bowlers.

But if somebody is in such a great form, you want to try and maximise that form. That is what we’ve been trying to do with Bumrah,“ he said.

“But there comes a time where you need to step back and give him that little bit of extra breather as well. “I’ve been very careful. I talked to him about how he feels and stuff like that. Those things should be managed carefully, and I’m trying to do that.”