NEW DELHI: Rishabh Pant’s fearless batting has impressed chairman of selectors MSK Prasad, who now wants the youngster to complement it with quality glovework at the highest level.
The 20 year became the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a hundred in England during the Oval Test but was shoddy behind the stumps in the three Tests he played.
”I am really happy the way Rishab batted in the last Test in England. In fact we never had any doubts about his batting skills. My only concern is about his wicket-keeping,” Prasad told PTI during an exclusive interview. However Prasad, a former India stumper himself, wants a training module to be created for Pant, wherein he hones his skills under specialist keeping coach. ”Now that he (Pant) has the experience of three Test matches under his belt, he would have understood the areas that he needs to work on. ”We are also trying to put him under wicket keeping specialist coach for sometime. Along with Rishab we have identified few more upcoming wicket-keepres who need to be trained under a specialist coach. I expect Rishabh to serve Indian cricket for a long time,” Prasad said, laying out his plans.
The performance of the Indian openers was disappointing throughout the series save KL Rahul’s 149 but Prasad pointed how even the England openers struggled. ”Yes, it is definitely a cause of concern. If you look at it whenever we have got that good start we went on to win the Test match. Having said that openers of both the teams struggled in this series due to tough conditions,” he said. (PTI)
