India must live and die by the sword of Rishabh Pant. That’s the view of captain Rohit Sharma, who did insist, however, the maverick wicketkeeper-batter himself has to understand when his aggression verges on recklessness.

Having infamously earnt the ire of Sunil Gavaskar for his first-innings ramp-shot exit, Pant’s final-session dismissal in Melbourne proved even more telling given it sparked their fatal fourth-innings collapse of 7-34.

The architect of India’s miracle chase at the Gabba in 2021 broke out of his previously watchful approach in an attempt to hit part-timer Travis Head to a long corner of the MCG’s outfield.

India needed to score at a run-a-ball for the duration of the final session to pull off victory, which Rohit later admitted he thought was a distant prospect.

Pant’s big swing found the hands of Mitch Marsh running around from long-on, with insult added to injury when Cummins revealed post-match Head had partly been brought on to improve Australia’s sluggish over-rate.

Rohit is reluctant to rein in the star left-hander whose attacking instincts have won their team vital matches in the past. But he implied Pant, whose 104-ball 30 marked the slowest innings of his Test career (minimum 30 balls), had not played to the match situation.

“Rishabh Pant, he needs to understand what is required from himself more than any one of us telling him,” India’s skipper told reporters. “It’s about him understanding and figuring out what is the right way to go about it.

“In the past, he’s given us a lot of success doing what he does. So as a captain there is a kind of mixed reaction to that. Sometimes you want to back that thought of him playing the way he plays and sometimes when things don’t look good, it frustrates everyone.

“But that is what it is, that’s the reality. It’s the success and the failure. There needs to be a balance about it.

“As a captain, it’s very hard to have conversations when (his aggression) has given him a lot of success as well. It’s about him figuring out what is the right way to do things.

“It’s about the situation as well. (There are) certain situations of the game where, if there is a risk percentage (to consider), do you want to take that risk? Do you want to let the opposition back into the game?

“Those are the things he needs to figure out himself.

“I’ve known Rishabh for a very long time, and I understand his cricket as well … the things he does gives him results as well. It’s just that fine line between telling him not to do those things or telling him to do those things.”

The exit of Pant’s partner Yashasvi Jaiswal in India’s 88-run fourth-wicket stand proved equally polarising, though for different reasons.

Pat Cummins bounced Jaiswal, who fended it on the way through to wicketkeeper Alex Carey. Cummins did not hesitate to review it when umpire Joel Wilson turned down the appeal.

While snickometer did not pick up any audio evidence suggesting Jaiswal had hit it, other replays showed the ball clearly touching his gloved index finger.

Rohit admitted he thought as much as well, though he questioned how the decision was reached and suggested India had been on the wrong end of line-ball calls in the past.

“I don’t know what to make of that, because the technology didn’t show anything,” he said.

“But with the naked eye, it seemed that he did touch (the ball). So I don’t know how the umpires want to use the technology, but in all fairness, I think he did touch the ball.

“But it’s about the technology, which we all know is not 100 per cent … It’s just that more often than not, we are the ones falling on the wrong side of it … I feel we’ve been a little bit unfortunate.”

Rohit conceded his own batting form must also improve having failed to pass single figures in either innings to see his tour average slip to 6.20.

No captain has ever fared worse on a tour of Australia (minimum three Tests).

His continued struggles, along with a lack of runs from fellow senior heads Pant and Virat Kohli, have put India in a bind.

Shubman Gill was dropped for this Test after averaging 20 from three innings in a reshuffle that has put a greater run-scoring onus on the likes of lower-order allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Reddy’s sensational century at the MCG somewhat justified the call but it came as Rohit elevated himself from No.6 to take on the new ball, breaking up what had been an effective opening partnership between Jaiswal and KL Rahul.

Rohit was evasive when asked about his own form and his position in the team.

“A few results have not gone our way. As a captain, yes, that is disappointing, and, yes, as a batter as well,” he said. “A lot of the things that I’m trying to do is not falling into place.

“Mentally it is disturbing, without a doubt.

“If you’ve’ come here and you want to try and do successfully what you’re supposed to – if those things don’t fall in place, that is a big disappointment. There are things that we as a team need to look at and I personally need to look at as well.

“There’s still a game to go, if we can play that game well, a draw will be really nice.”

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: Australia won by 184 runs

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal