Furious Indian cricket supporters slammed captain Rishabh Pant after he fell to South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj for a low score in the second match of the T20I series against South Africa in Cuttack on Sunday. The Team India captain had already faced flak from several quarters during the Indian cricket team's loss in the previous game, especially for his mediocre captaincy. But this time around, it was his poor shot selection that riled fans. Rishabh Pant came into bat with Team India in trouble at 48/2 and had a golden chance to put his side back on top with some sensible batting. Instead, he committed hara-kiri by dancing down the track to Proteas spinner Keshav Maharaj. The South Africa tweaker succeeded in inducing a false stroke from Rishabh Pant who mistimed the ball in the air before being caught by Rassie van der Dussen in the deep.

As soon as Rishabh Pant perished, his name began trending on social media. Several Indian cricket admirers were seen mocking him on Twitter.

“Rishabh Pant doesn't even deserve to be in the India T20 team and the irony is he is captain,” a fan said on the micro-blogging platform.

“Pant now averages 24.72 with a strike rate of 126.90 in T20Is with only 3 scores of 50 and above from 39 Innings,  But Generational talent Uno, His spot is not fixed in limited-overs yet, Don't get fooled by his test antics. He hasn't proved in Limited overs yet to be an all-format player,” another wrote.

“Rishabh Pant the chief engineer for rash shots,” a third claimed.

“At present concern should be Pant the batsman, not Pant the captain, we have other guys to do that job. It's time, he really needs to crack this T20I code,” a fourth added.

“What value does Rishabh Pant add to the Indian team? We have a better keeper, batsman, and a captain to replace him,” a fifth wrote.

https://twitter.com/SuriyerPolice/status/1536005332421357568

https://twitter.com/hemant18326/status/1535990064802435072

The netizens, however, didn't stop there as many questioned Rishabh Pant's decision to send Axar Patel ahead of Dinesh Karthik during India's innings.

https://twitter.com/UjjwalR41254381/status/1536027003584774144

After Team India lost Hardik Pandya in over number 13th with the score reading 90/4, everyone expected Dinesh Karthik to arrive at the crease.

But that didn't happen as Axar Patel walked out to bat, leaving the fans surprised.

Though there's little doubt about Axar Patel's capabilities as a batter, sending him ahead of Dinesh Kartik looked like a desperate measure from Rishabh Pant who doesn't have much experience of leading a side on the international stage. Perhaps he wanted to arrest India's fall wickets at that juncture.

Still, when you have a specialist batter in the team, you should rely on him rather than sending a player who is at best a handy batter.

Dinesh Karthik, on the other hand, got into action after the fall of Shreyas Iyer's wicket and finished with 30 runs off 21 balls, helping India to a competitive total of 148/6.

However, the Indian total proved to be insufficient as South Africa raced through to a four-wicket triumph in just 18.2 overs, thanks to wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen's sensational knock of 81 off 46 deliveries.

South Africa all-rounder David Miller later described his team's victory as special.

“A great win, it was a bit of a tricky wicket. We were in trouble. They bowled well up front. Klassen's knock was phenomenal. It was playing your game on the track, you can't worry about keeping your wicket,” Miller told the series' official broadcaster Star Sports.

“[On this surface] you are never quite sure whether you have to go front or back. It was all about playing straight and not think too much about the wicket. It was a bit up and down. It was the coach and captain's decision for me to go at 6. They held me back for the final 10 but Klaasen's was a top knock. It is very tough to win in India, but we still have a lot of hard work still to do. We still want to keep going strength to strength. We are on the right track but a lot still to do,” Miller added.

Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant, who had accused his bowlers of under-performing in the previous game, blamed the batters for the Indian cricket team's defeat in Cuttack.

According to the Delhi-based batter, India should have scored over 160. But the batters never got going, and the team lost wickets at regular intervals.

“I think batting, we were 10-15 runs short. Bhuvi and all other fast bowlers though bowled very well. We were short in the second half and the things did not go our way. The bowlers started really well, but after 10-11 overs, we did not bowl well and that's where the game changed. We though we were going to do similar things (as the South African bowlers). The spinners have to come better into the game. Last three matches, we will look to win,” Rishabh Pant said in the post-match presentation ceremony.