Former Indian keepers are divided on their opinions about Rishabh Pant

India roped in youngster Rishabh Pant to make his Test debut at Trent Bridge a bit out of desperation after first wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik had a horrible run and also sustained an injury but the debate over India’s wicket-keeping is far from over. Pant though had a decent debut with the bat and gloves, his performance over the last three Tests hasn’t been overall extraordinary though former keepers want to give him more time.

Pant conceded a whole lot byes in the three Tests that he has featured in so far and his predecessors have dissected his show to say that he is still raw and in progress to emerge a complete keeper. Pant has taken 15 catches in the series so far, including a fifer in England’s first innings in Nottingham.

Former India wicket-keepers like Nayan Mongia, Deep Dasgupta and Kiran More believe that although Pant needs to be given more time, there should also be a clear-cut policy on young wicket-keepers since experienced Wriddhiman Saha is yet to get fit in another three-four months.

Wrong to pick players based on IPL form

“He (Pant) is still very raw and I think it’s a wrong policy to pick players based on their IPL form. His basics of keeping are not correct. My concern is if he is not able to keep to spinners in England, he will have problems on fourth and fifth day tracks in the sub-continent,” Mongia, India’s second-best keeper in ODIs, was quoted by saying in reports, as cited by Times of India.

The former keeper said Pant’s shoulders are stiff at the moment and his test will be to keep against Indian spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav on the penultimate and final days in Tests in India. He also spoke in favour of bringing back Parthiv Patel, another wicketkeeper who found himself out of favour for the England series.

Another former keeper Deep Dasgupta felt that Pant should be nurtured as a long-term prospect. “Yes, there are a lot of areas in keeping that he needs to work on but I don’t want to see a player being dumped after one series,” he said.

More, a former chief selector said he would like to stick with Pant for one more game. “I feel for the boy. I believe he has been fast-tracked into Test cricket and England is not an easy place to keep wickets,” he mentioned.

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