Rishabh Pant departed for six runs off nine balls on his ODI comeback. [Getty Images and @ViratianMJ18 on X]

Rishabh Pant failed to deliver with the bat in the third and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, August 7. The left-handed batter departed for just six runs off nine balls in his comeback game in the format, which came after his car crash in 2022. Pant’s wicket reduced the Men in Blue at 63/3 in a 249-run chase.

Notably, Pant was picked ahead of KL Rahul in the series decider. The latter returned with scores of 31 and 0 in the first two ODIs. Earlier in the day, the wicketkeeper-batter also messed up a stumping chance in the last over of Sri Lanka innings.

Fans on X were disappointed with Rishabh Pant’s performance against Sri Lanka in a must-win game. One user wrote:

“This guy RISHABH PANT must take retirement from white ball cricket if he has little shame left in him. Eating place of deserving players in both formats. @GautamGambhir take a call in best interest of Indian cricket.”

Another user wrote:

“#Rishabh Pant can’t do wicket keeping he also can’t bat then why is he in the team?”

A third user added:

“Don’t Forget Don’t Forgive. Sanju Samson scored a century in his last ODI innings and the Poor guy is not even in the Squad. Ajit Agarkar Dropped him to fit his Parchi Player Rishabh Pant.”

Here are some more reactions on X:

Sri Lanka favorite to win against India in 3rd ODI; Rishabh Pant’s wicket triggers collapse

Sri Lanka are favorite to win the third and final ODI against India. Led by Dunith Wellalage, the visiting side lost their first five wickets for just 73 runs.

At the time of writing, India were 101/7 after 17 overs, with Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube at the crease. Wellalage did the bulk of the damage with four wickets so far. India captain Rohit Sharma (35 off 20) and Virat Kohli (20 off 18) departed after a promising start.

Batting first, Sri Lanka put up 248/7 after 50 overs. Avishka Fernando starred with the bat, scoring 96 runs off 102 balls, a knock laced with two sixes and nine boundaries. Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka and Kamindu Mendis chipped in with 59 (82), 45 (65) and 23* (19), respectively. Riyan Parag was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors, returning with figures of 3/54.