Sanjay Manjrekar, the former Indian batter, praised Rishabh Pant on Tuesday (July 06), saying the youngster is not only raising the bar for his batting but also making significant strides as a wicketkeeper in Test cricket.
The southpaw smashed 146 off 111 balls in the first innings of the rescheduled Test against England at Edgbaston and followed with a sensible 86-ball 57 in the second dig, pulling the team out of a dicey situation on both occasions.
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In the process, Pant became only the second wicketkeeper from his country to score a hundred and a fifty in the same Test.
Despite Pant’s heroics, the visitors lost the match in which they had an upper hand for the first three days, as England rode on centuries from Joe Root (142*) and Jonny Bairstow (114*) to chase down a massive target of 378 in the final innings with seven wickets in hand.
Manjrekar noted that the 24-year-old managed to keep wickets well under challenging circumstances.
"No doubt about that (Pant, the batter, impressed). He has established himself as a potential great that we are watching. 5 hundreds and just one at home and rest away from home is just incredible. But I want to just talk about his keeping, a lot has been spoken about his batting," he told Sony Sports on Friday (July 01).
"I just love how seriously he has taken that job. Because, after doing well with the bat, you can sometimes ease off. I was a little skeptical about his ability as a keeper, especially in these kind of conditions," he added.
The cricketer-turned-commentator emphasized that Pant is following in the footsteps of MS Dhoni in improving his wicketkeeping as he gained more experience playing international cricket.
"The big news for India is the growth of Pant the wicketkeeper. You don’t see him chattering much around the stumps. He has taken the job very seriously, and his improvement has been remarkable, just like Dhoni."
He also lauded the Delhi cricketer for not taking things easy behind the wicket, given his success with the bat.
"How he sort of improved as a keeper. I loved his commitment because you can take this job a little easy while being so successful as a batter. It’s strikingly brilliant," he stated.
The Test series between the two teams ended in a draw 2-2 after the Edgbaston result. The ‘Men in Blue’ will now take on the same opposition in the limited-overs series, comprising three T20Is and as many ODIs.
(SONY SPORTS INPUTS)
