New Delhi, July 25 Former England spinner Monty Panesar questioned host captain Ben Stokes' approach of bowling yorkers to injured Rishabh Pant , when he came to bat again on day two of the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
Pant, who was retired hurt on 37 after being hit on the right toe by Chris Woakes in the final session of the opening day, came out to bat again despite the reports of a fracture on his right foot. He looked in obvious discomfort as he hobbled to complete his singles.
India vice-captain received a roaring welcome from the crowd and earned a lot of praise from former cricketers, including Panesar, but the veteran spinner criticised Stokes for targeting Pant's injured foot (front) with yorkers when he was already struggling with the pain.
"Well, I think he's being very brave, and it's massively risky because you don't want him to get injured further and he has a fractured toe. So, he's done brilliant heroics from him, and he's shown great bravery and shown how strong of a character he is. And it's probably similar to when Anil Kumble had a fractured jawline, what he did then.
"But, I don't know, was it ethical for Ben Stokes to bowl so many yorkers at Pant when he already had a broken toe? it's questionable," Panesar told IANS.
Pant added 17 runs to his last night's total and scored a gritty 54 to rake India's first innings total to 358.
In reply, half-centuries from Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley guided England to 225/2 in 46 overs at stumps, trailing India by 133 runs.
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