Thanks to all-around performances from Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, and Rishabh Pant, India won the first Test in Mohali against Sri Lanka convincingly, beating them by an innings and 222 runs inside three days.
Jadeja was the star of the show, he dominated proceedings with a classy 175 not-out and a nine-wicket haul. Pant, on the other hand, played a counter-attacking 96-run knock in the first innings. But there was still one more crucial role to play in the game. Pant's "improved" performance behind the stumps after India declared at 574-8 aided the bowlers brilliantly.
In an interview with Cricbuzz.com, veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik praised Pant's improved wicketkeeping.
"I think his batting is phenomenal and we can speak a lot about it. But I think the hallmark of this Test for him personally would be how well he kept. I think some of his catches, the Pathum Nissanka's catch was a brilliant take, it was a hard one. Whenever an off-spinner bowl into the rough a little bit and the ball is turning in, it is a hard one to take because you never know which one is going to straighten and which one is going to turn in. And, on top of that, if it deviates off the bat, it becomes that much harder and that's where I like Pant because his hands in the right place," he said.
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Karthik explained how Pant worked hard on his wicketkeeping abilities, especially when facing spinners, as part of the technical changes. Karthik emphasized that Pant's hard work off the field was paying off on the field.
"When you practice close-in, you need to practice so much that your hands are in the right place. It needs to be second nature to you because you don't have time to think. You need to have your instincts working better than people who do it in the outfield and for that, you need to put in X amount of hard work," said Karthik.
In the second innings, Pant took three outstanding catches, two of which came off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
"You can see, the amount of work he has put off the field on his keeping is reflecting on it. Why he couldn't do it before was obviously a technical flaw and over a period of time, he has addressed it. And, he looked solid in this game and I liked both the catches he took - low and making sure the hands are soft," he added.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
