Former India skipper Rahul Dravid, who now serves as a coach of junior teams, has showered heaps of praise on young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant saying he is able to bat differently.
Meanwhile, aggressive southpaw Pant made into the Indian Test team as the backup gloveman. However, Dinesh Karthik will be the first-choice keeper after Wriddhiman Saha failed to make the cut due to his shoulder injury.
India will play a five-match Test series against England starting from August 1 at Edgbaston. They will be desperate to win the series and change the statistics after a dismal outing in 2014.
Pant was in such exquisite touch during the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 where he finished as second-highest run-scorer.
The young gun Pant scored 684 runs in 14 innings including one ton with an average of 52.61 for IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils (DD).
“Rishabh was quite excellent on the tour. He is obviously a very talented player. He showed in three or four innings that he was willing to bat differently. We all know the way he bats. Even in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season when he got over to 900 runs his S/R was 100 plus and we have seen him bat similarly in the IPL as well,” Dravid said to bcci.tv.
Pant has the skill set to bat differently:
Rahul Dravid, the coach of India A side, challenged Pant to bat differently according to the situation. Pant succeded putting up a good show in daunting situations.
“On this trip, we challenged him a lot to bat according to the situation. He got a critical 64 (not out) in the one-day final when he was the last recognized batsman and also against West Indies A when he put on a 100-run partnership with Jayant Yadav,” he added.
“He showed that he could bat differently. Pant has the temperament and skills to bat differently. . We are glad he has been picked in the national team and I hope he takes this maturity into the national team and hopefully builds from thereon,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, India will play a four-day warm-up match against Essex from 25 July prior to the series.
Also read: India has strong bench strength in pace bowling: Dravid
