BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday (November 25) hailed Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha as the two best wicketkeeper batsmen in the country.
While Saha and Pant are competing for the wicketkeeper slot in the longest format, India currently does not have a fixed glovesman in limited-overs cricket.
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Pant was seen as the legendary MS Dhoni's successor until KL Rahul emerged as a reliable wicketkeeper batsman in white-ball cricket. Rahul kept the wickets in the ODI series against Australia in January this year and also during the tour of New Zealand.
“He (Pant) and Wriddhiman Saha are our two best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the country,” Sourav Ganguly told PTI.
Pant has established himself as a leading wicketkeeper-batsman in red-ball cricket after making his debut in England in 2018. The southpaw has already scored two Test tons outside the subcontinent – the only Indian glovesman to do so.
However, Rishabh is yet to find his feet in limited-overs cricket. With Dhoni making himself unavailable for selection after the World Cup 2019, Pant was a regular feature in India’s white-ball team but he failed to secure his spot. The left-hander has played 16 ODIs, 28 T20Is so far and his averages of 26.71, 20.50 respectively suggest that he is not doing justice to his talent.
Pant endured an average IPL 2020 season as he hit only one fifty in the entire tournament. However, Ganguly backed the youngster to return to form.
“Don’t worry. His bat swing will come back. He is a young guy and all of us need to guide him. He’s got tremendous talent. Rishabh will be fine," Ganguly added.
On the other hand, wicketkeeper batsmen such as Saha, Rahul and Sanju Samson have shown enough promise and managed to keep knocking on the door.
"Only one can play, so whoever is in the best form will play," Ganguly said.