Rishab Pant's coach is confident his ward will serve Indian cricket for long

When the Indian selectors named the Test squad for the five-match series in England there was only one surprise. They named Rishabh Pant as the backup keeper ahead of Parthiv Patel who featured in the last tour of South Africa. This is a reaffirmation of the fact that Pant who is just 20 has managed to impress the coaches and selectors at all levels. His consistent work in the domestic circuit, as well as the IPL, was rewarded with a spot in the India A team.

He has been very sound temperament wise and has looked a really good keeper against the moving ball on this tour of England. Pant has played six List A matches and one FC game with the India A team before being called up in the Test side. It is understood that India A head coach Rahul Dravid’s feedback on the dynamic youngster helped him secure a place in the senior team.

Improved keeper

Coach Tarak Sinha is happy to see his ward earn a place in the team at the same time thinks he truly deserves it. Sinha thinks Pant has it in him to serve Indian cricket for long. His batting was never doubted, but a lot of people pointed out that the youngster still needed to hone his keeping skills. Ahead of the tour of England Sinha who himself was a keeper helped Rishabh do that and results are for all to see.

“He had improved on his wicketkeeping considerably. I had insisted that he had to be a good keeper first and then back it with his batting. He has been uncompromising as far as hard work is concerned. Never late for training and always attentive. Believe me, he will serve Indian cricket long and serve it well,” said Sinha as quoted by Sportstarlive.

When the left-hander is out with the bat in hand it is evident that he wants to hit every ball out of the park and that can at times emerge as a temperamental drawback. Test cricket is a test of character and only those who stay calm and bat through the tough phase with patience manage to sail through.

“Before he left for England, I worked on his temperament and drilled home the point that he must learn to be patient. Temperament is the key if a player has to stand up to challenges. Rishabh has been a disciplined member of our club and brings lot of passion to his batting,” noted Sinha.

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