Rishabh Pant uninstalled WhatsApp, switched off his phone after ‘stupid’ MCG dismissal

Indian Test vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who caught the limelight with his twin centuries against England in the Leeds Test, has punished himself by uninstalling WhatsApp and switching off his phone after his disastrous shot selection at MCG in BGT 2024-25.

While Pant has an exceptional record in the longest format of the game, he couldn’t replicate his success in the white-ball formats. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, Pant could score only 255 runs in five Tests at an average of 28.33.

He went on to receive a lot of flak from the former Indian captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar for his poor shot selection in the Melbourne Test, which turned the game upside down as India eventually lost the Test series 1-3 Down Under.

According to a report published on the TOI, Pant wanted to bring a major change to his game after his ‘stupid’ shot selection in the MCG Test. The report mentioned that the cricketer decided to uninstall WhatsApp in March 2025 and also turned his phone off.

Sohum Desai, Team India’s former S&C coach, disclosed that the keeper-batter decided to punish himself to improve his fitness. He added that the keeper had some harsh gym routines during the Champions Trophy 2025 when he was warming the bench.

“He did the most intense sessions day in and day out. He dragged me into the gym whenever he was free. He didn't care about fatigue or work-loaded programmes. All he said was he needed to keep working on himself. On the day of the final, he came to me with some kind of guilt in his mind and asked if he could take the day off. I said it was high time that he did,” Desai told Times of India. 

"Pant has so much reserve that he will be fine for at least a year without having to do anything extraordinary. That's why you see him moving around so well despite scoring two hundreds and keeping wickets for so long in the Headingley Test,” he added.

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