Impressed by their performance in the two-match Test series against West Indies, legendary Sunil Gavaskar believes that youngsters - Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw - are amazingly talented and have bright future ahead of themselves.
Gavaskar showered huge praise on the duo to have shown excellent temperament, so early in their careers and thinks if they continue moving forward with their games, they'll go a long way at the highest level.
While Shaw scored 237 runs at an average of 118.50 across three innings and earned man of the series award for his outstanding performance, Pant followed his brilliant hundred at the Oval, with dominating and free-flowing 92 each at Rajkot & Hyderabad and looked a much improved wicketkeeper in the series.
On Pant, Gavaskar was quoted saying, "Looking at the way Rishabh Pant has settled in the team, I wouldn't disturb the combination at all. He can be someone like Adam Gilchrist or Quinton de Kock to come down the order and if four wickets have fallen early, to take the game away from the opposition. So, that has to be encouraged," he stressed, "He can be destructive. If there is an Ajinkya Rahane or Virat Kohli at the other end, that'll be an absolutely deadly combination."
Specifically, on Pant's glovework behind the stumps, Gavaskar feels. "His wicket-keeping is improving every day, the more he keeps wickets to Ashwin and Jadeja the better," he emphasized, "He hasn't kept wickets to them before. He will get better with time and the more he keeps wickets to them, he will get used to their spin, varieties and he'll be that much better with every game he keeps to them," before reiterating, "Unfortunate for Wriddhiman Saha but with current form and performance, he slots into the XI straight away."
He also opined that Pant can be a valuable addition to India's limited overs side and said, "A left-hander coming in at No.4 would be absolutely terrific and with the destructive abilities he has, it would definitely be a great addition to the Indian limited-overs side as well," adding, "Getting to spend time with the one and only MSD (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) in the change room...how educating will that be for a young man, who is wanting to learn?"
On the highly confident and very likeable Prithvi Shaw, Gavaskar said, "This is a dream start of the young man. He couldn't have asked for a better start and he deserves it. He has been making adjustments and sure he won't find it easy in Australia. Nobody finds it easy and he made adjustments today when he was struck in the hand and he hung in there. He is hungry for runs and hungry for hundreds,"
He further added, "By all accounts, Pant, Shaw, when they are in the change room...they are all the time asking the seniors about tips, they are very good observers and that's the one way to improve," and signed off by saying, "So, the future is very bright for both these young stars and like Ravi Shastri said...if they keep up the work ethic, do not relax, do not take the game for granted...then the sky is the limit for both these guys."
(Inputs from India Today)
