India’s young wicketkeeping prospect, Rishabh Pant, is going through a difficult time in international cricket lately. Following MS Dhoni sabbatical from the game, Pant received several opportunities to display his mettle at the highest level.
However, Pant has been hot and cold with both bat and gloves donning the Indian jersey. The Indian team management has now opted for KL Rahul as the regular wicketkeeper in ODIs, which allows another specialist batsman in Manish Pandey to enter into the lineup.
Making matters worse, his keeping standards have been found out with sloppy misses while catching and stumping.
Coupled with his iffy DRS calls, young Pant has not proved to be an asset to the team due to his tendency to squander opportunities with the bat.
Arguably the best wicketkeeper in the world currently, Test specialist Wriddhiman Saha, offered some valuable piece of advice for the youngster.
“I have told Rishabh a few things which he will try according to his comfort zone. He will try during training. It’s not like he will do it for one day and it will work. So, if he feels those things will work for him, he will try and implement them in his training,” Saha told IANS.
“It’s not like tips. It’s a discussion. I have told him these are things I follow and it makes my job easier. You can also try them and see if it works for you. See it’s very personal. But yes, we do discuss wicketkeeping,” revealed Saha.
India’s horses for courses motto leads to Saha keeping wickets during home Test matches when the wickets are spitting venom.
Saha provides reliability on the turning tracks of India behind the wickets. While Pant is preferred during overseas Tests to elongate the batting lineup in challenging conditions.
“We all play for India. The team decides the best combination, and we have to respect that. I had played the last series; he (Rishabh) did not play. In New Zealand, he played, and I did not. Individually, yes, we all expect to play. But ultimately, the team is first,” concluded the Bengal cricketer.
