Apart from weak batting performances, Rishabh Pant has also faced recent criticism for his poor wicketkeeping skills. The chief selector MSK Prasad also feels that the youngster needs to improve his wicketkeeping skills. So, the youngster will work under a specialist wicketkeeping coach.
Due to his impressive performances in domestic cricket, the wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant got the opportunity to wear the Indian national cricket team’s jersey at the very early age. Pant first made his T20I debut in February 2017, and then, he made his Test and ODI debuts in August and October 2018 respectively.
At the beginning of his international career, Rishabh Pant impressed with his batting and wicketkeeping skills. The selectors and team management were impressed with those performances. In 2019, Pant has got a major role as he has now been selected as the first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman, especially in the limited-overs cricket after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. However, Pant has continuously struggled to count these opportunities positively.
While Rishabh Pant has failed to play the big knocks in this year, he has also failed to perform consistently with the gloves behind the stumps. In the most recent limited-overs matches for India, Pant played some mature knocks with the bat, but his wicketkeeping performances are still not consistent enough.
Rishabh Pant needs to improve his keeping skills – MSK Prasad
The former Indian wicketkeeper and present chief selector, MSK Prasad has also agreed that Rishabh Pant needs to improve his wicketkeeping skills. He has clarified that a specialist wicketkeeping coach will guide Pant to the improvement process.
Prasad told the reporters, “Pant needs to improve his keeping skills. We will have him work under a specialist wicket-keeping coach.”
Rishabh Pant has played 11 Tests, 15 ODIs and 26 T20Is where he has scored 754 runs (average 44.35), 346 runs (average 26.61) and 409 runs (average 20.45) respectively. Though he has been dropped out from the Test playing XI after the returning of the senior wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, Pant is regularly playing in the limited-overs formats. However, the youngster needs to improve himself to retain his current spot.