Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has said that it would be prudent for young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant to focus more over his primary skill of doing glovework behind the stumps rather than talking with his voice clearly being heard by everyone around through the mic.

Manjrekar's comments came in wake of recent instances of Pant having a genuine go at the batsmen with words from behind the stumps, generally expected and in fact, celebrated around, as an accepted form of sledging.

"This [chatter/banter] happens often. It happens at all levels. Only thing is, these days the broadcasters are not only getting the volume of the stump microphone up," Manjrekar, who is commentating for the Indian broadcaster Sony for this series, told Mid Day, "Here, the host broadcaster [Seven Network and Fox Sports] has gone a step further and they actually don’t put any commentary for one over," as he reaffirmed, "You can only hear the chatter. In cricket, there has been a tradition... in all team meetings, the wicketkeeper is told to keep encouraging the bowler."

The 53-year-old, who played 37 Tests and 74 ODIs for the country, also made a very valid observation regarding Pant's ways, as he further said, "The moment he dropped the catch of Shaun Marsh off Hanuma Vihari, suddenly he went quiet for two-three overs. That is when he has to be careful. If being quiet is going to help him focus better, then the Indian team would rather have him taking catches than looking to encourage the bowlers all the time or all that banter that goes around."

Manjrekar even made a prediction for the series and put the onus on respective batting units to support the fast bowling arsenal that is available across both teams.

"This series will be decided by which of the two weak batting units bat better. Both teams have one major weakness [batting]. So, it is not so much about bowling. It is all about how well they bat because both teams have a fragile batting unit," he signed off.