Veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has slammed Rishabh Pant following the latter’s decision to demote himself during Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)’s defeat to the Delhi Capitals (DC) on Tuesday. Pant dropped himself down to number seven and faced just two balls before being bowled by Mukesh Kumar on the final delivery of the innings. Pujara feels Pant should bat in the middle overs, especially when his team needs him the most. Pujara also suggested Pant isn’t a finisher and that he shouldn’t try to go the MS Dhoni way.

“I genuinely don’t know what the thought process was. But there’s no doubt – he should be batting higher up the order. He’s trying to do what MS Dhoni does, but he’s nowhere near that level. I still feel he’s someone who should be batting during the middle overs, between the 6th and 15th. He’s not a finisher, and he shouldn’t be doing the job of one,” Pujara told ESPNcricinfo.

After the match, Pant revealed the reason behind holding himself back in the batting order.

“The Idea was to capitalise. We sent Samad to capitalise on a wicket like that. After that, Miller came in, and we just really got stuck in the wicket. Eventually, these are the things we have to figure out and try to find our best combination going forward,” he said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

“We knew we were 20 runs short. In Lucknow, the toss played a big part. Whoever is bowling first gets a lot of help from the wicket. We just had to stay back. We just couldn’t get it away,” he added.

Pant, who was bought by LSG for a record-breaking Rs 27 crore fee at the mega auction, has scored 106 runs in eight innings with a highest score of 63.