Legendary Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Syed Kirmani on Tuesday (February 9) said Rishabh Pant is a “gifted bundle of talent and natural stroke player” as a batman, but when it comes to keeping, the youngster is still “the cradle of wicket-keeping”.
The 23-year-old has shown stellar performances with the bat in Australia and was one of the architects of India’s historic Test series win 2-1 last month and even in the first defeated Test against England, Pant scored 91 in the first innings, but his poor work behind the stumps remains questionable.
Kirmani told reporters, “Rishabh Pant is a gifted bundle of talent, a gifted natural stroke player. But he is in the cradle of wicket-keeping, he has to learn a lot. He has to learn when to strike also, which he did in Australia.”
He also gave some wicket-keeping tips to Pant by saying: “Pant has to have a basic correct technique in wicket-keeping, which is not there. The ability of a keeper is judged only when he stands up to the stumps.
He can keep to fastest bowlers in the world because you have enough time, distance is enough, you can see the swing, bounce of the ball, and accordingly, you can move. You can anticipate and collect.”
On Pant’s batting, the 71-year-old Kirmani said: “Very composed innings he (Pant) played and he won the match for the country for the first time (in Brisbane). There were many occasions where he could have won the game for India but threw away his wicket.”
Kirmani also felt Pant threw his wicket in the first innings to England after scoring 91 off just 88 balls in Chennai – where India suffered a massive defeat of 227 runs on Tuesday.
He added, “Here also, he threw his wicket away. When any batsman reaches 80, his focus should be getting to a hundred and for that, you can’t take the risk. You can’t say I am a natural hooker or natural stroke player, you have to play to the situation and circumstances you are in.”
However, the former wicket-keeper lauded Pant for his batting in Australia, hitting 97 in Sydney and 89* in The Gabba to help Team India clinch the memorable Test series in Brisbane.
The 1983 World Cup winner signed off by saying, “I like what he did in Australia, and he was composed. Where he had to block, he blocked, where he had to go for it, he went for it. That is how he should adapt to each of his innings, which will come by experience only, it will not come immediately.
He is learning and he is still in his 20s. A player starts maturing when he is 30. It’s a learning process for everyone till we breathe our last like in any walk of life.”
(With PTI Inputs)
