Rishabh Pant has guts and confidence but will need to improve: Farokh Engineer

Team India endured a perfect game at Trent Bridge and stormed back into the Test series to reduce England lead. One of the reasons for their comeback was the catching behind the stumps. Rishabh Pant, on his debut, impressed everyone by plucking seven catches and showing his temperament with the bat as well. However, the former India stumper Farokh Engineer has praised the youngster but also believes that he will need to improve going forward.

Pant shocked everyone by stepping out of his crease and smashing the six only off the second ball of his Test career. The shot proved that he was a gutsy and confident cricketer and not afraid of the big stage. His wicketkeeping skills were also brilliant as he took a couple of brilliant catches and was also aware for the whole game behind the stumps.

He has tremendous reflexes

Farokh Engineer, while speaking to Hindustan Times, was all praise of Rishabh Pant and also liked the way he hit Adil Rashid for a maximum to get off the mark in Tests. “I’m very impressed, he has tremendous reflexes. Rishabh has guts and confidence. I love to see youngsters make a mark. He didn’t show any nerves and hit the second ball for a six. My first three balls I faced in Test cricket, I hit them for fours, but that was out of sheer nervousness,” he said.

However, he was also quick to point out a few glitches in his wicketkeeping and felt that he need to improve on a few aspects. Pant dropped Jos Buttler in the second innings and he went on to score a century. It was a technical blemish from him with the gloves as his first movement off Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling is always towards leg-side which was the reason the catch was dropped.

“He gets up too soon. One must rise with the ball. He also positioned himself a bit too back, the slip cordon also. Jasprit Bumrah once called him forward. If I meet him, I will tell him. A wicket-keeper should stay as low as possible to move quickly and even turn half-chances into catches. But he will learn. Overall, his performance was brilliant,” Engineer added.

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