The toss is the most routine moment in cricket. Two captains, one coin, a quick word with the broadcaster. It should last forty-five seconds and be forgotten before the first ball. Rishabh Pant turned his into a viral masterpiece. When Ian Bishop — the legendary West Indian quick-turned-commentator — asked why Mohammed Shami was missing, the LSG captain responded with a string of replies so disconnected from the question that Bishop’s expression became a meme before the match had even begun. The Times of India described it as “an awkward yet funny exchange”. News18 called it a “comedy sketch” that left Bishop “entirely bewildered”. Here is the complete, verbatim transcript of what happened. [reference:11][reference:12]

Bishop was not asking a trick question. Mohammed Shami — one of India’s premier Test pacers — was absent from the LSG playing XI. Earlier that day, national selector Ajit Agarkar had publicly revealed that Shami was excluded from India’s Afghanistan assignments because his “physical conditioning currently limits him to short-form Twenty20 responsibilities.” [reference:13]Bishop wanted the straightforward reason: was Shami injured? Rested? Dropped?

Pant’s responses — “Yeah”, “Mohsin”, and the eventual pivot to “Aiden is out, Badoni is in” — suggested either a complete misunderstanding of the question, or a deliberate decision not to discuss Shami’s fitness publicly. ABP Live noted that “by completely dodging the broadcast inquiry and offering fragmented replies, Pant carefully guarded internal franchise dynamics, refusing to publicly validate whether the veteran quick was officially dropped or strategically rested.” [reference:14]

The interaction drew intense commentary about Pant’s leadership, coming just hours after he lost his Test vice-captaincy to KL Rahul and was dropped from India’s ODI squad. “The technical management group eventually intervened to truncate the awkward television segment,” ABP Live reported. [reference:15]

If the toss chat was awkward, the post-match interview was explosive. After LSG’s seventh-wicket defeat — chasing 221, falling short despite Mitchell Marsh’s 96 — Pant joined Bishop for the customary post-match chat. Asked about the morale in a camp that had just suffered its ninth loss of the season, Pant passionately defended his teammates. Then he concluded with a sentence that forced Bishop to apologise on live television.

“We are proud as a team regardless of what our situation is right now,” Pant said. “The kind of team we have, we know we can win this. Regardless of anything, we are confident enough as a team and as individuals. It hasn’t gone our way, and everyone knows that, but that doesn’t take away the fact that we are a fu****g good team.” [reference:16]

The Hindustan Times reported that “the remark immediately forced Bishop to step in and apologise on the broadcast for the language used during the live interview.” [reference:17]News18 headlined it bluntly: “Rishabh Pant Uses Expletive On Live TV After LSG’s Loss.” [reference:18]