India captain Virat Kohli was impressed with his young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant’s applaudable glovework behind the stumps on the challenging track of the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in the second Test against England.
India has picked Pant over the experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha for the first two Tests against England because of his explosive batting and match-winning ability and Kohli is confident that the Delhi-lad’s wicket keeping will improve with time.
Well, the left-hander impressed all with his batting in the first Test and has now managed to impress his captain Kohli with his impressive glovework in the second Test, which Team India won by 317 runs to level the ongoing four-match Test series against England on Tuesday (February 16).
In the recent second Test, Pant plucked a pair of one-handed catches out of the air in the first innings while delivered two acrobatic stumpings in the second innings despite the pitch offering significant spin and bounce in Chennai and Kohli lauded the youngster for his impressive job.
Kohli said: “He has really worked hard, when he moves with the gloves you can see that difference in his reactions and reflexes. He's shed a lot of weight and he's become quicker on his feet, and it's showing.”
He further added, “The way he kept on this pitch with so much turn and bounce was a credit to him for working so hard. We want him to keep improving as a keeper, get stronger and stronger with his skill sets because we understand how much value he brings to the team.”
Meanwhile, India’s veteran off-spinner R Ashwin said the players like Pant needs to be backed by the team so that they can improve faster while stressing the need to just focus on “positives” when they judge the youngsters in order to produce champion cricketers.
Ashwin further added, “Rishabh Pant was always going to be a good cricketer; he was always going to improve. Only if we back them in such a way that they can improve, they will improve faster. But if you are going to find those loopholes and faults, cricketers are going to take that much longer.”
He signed off by saying, “It is more of a mindset issue for us ... We can see a lot of positives, but we tend to choose the negatives. If we see a lot more positives, we will see a lot more champion cricketers.”
(With Reuters Inputs)
