Rishabh Pant surely must be on the selector's radar: Pravin Amre

Rishabh Pant looks firmly determined to make a statement as a rising talent. The left-handed ball basher, who first grabbed the limelight with his exploits in the junior world cup earlier this year, is on a mission o proving his worth in the Indian cricketing circles. The ongoing Ranji season has been very fruitful for him. He has managed to create a headline around him by smashing the fastest First Class hundred by an Indian, when he blasted a 48-ball hundred for Delhi against Jharkhand in a Ranji Trophy match in Thumba.

There’s a general sense of excitement around the 19-year-old sensation, who also smashed a triple hundred earlier in the season and currently leads the run-makers’ chart in the Ranji Trophy (799 runs in five matches at 114.14, SR: 113.01, 79 fours and 44 sixes). While many feel that Pant is good enough to play for India now, Pravin Amre, the assistant coach at the Delhi Daredevils, the boy’s IPL team, feels that the youngster should ideally play for India ‘A’ first.

“We’ve got a good process here in India. We go step-by-step, and that is important. He has age on his side. He’s batting brilliantly right now and should continue doing that. He surely must be on the selector’s radar,” Amre said, after launching ‘All-Rounder,’ a state-of-the-art indoor cricket coaching facility, powered by PitchVision’s cricket coaching technology, in a suburban school on Wednesday.

The former Mumbai coach believes that the left-hander’s main asset is the immense self-belief he possesses.

“I just told him to imbibe discipline in his batting. It basically means discipline in shot selection. It’s a dream start for (him) this season. He’s a very good striker of the ball and is a confident lad, which is essential for any batsman. This boy has got self-belief in him that he can do well at any level. He has age on his side, and right now he is batting brilliantly,” Amre said.

The 48-year-old revealed that it was former Delhi pacer Sunil Valson who was instrumental in Pant getting a chance to play for the Daredevils this season.

“Our talent scouts in DD spotted him. Valson (part of the DD support staff) spoke highly about him as he had seen him in his early days. We first spotted him when he got 150 playing for the India under-19 team. We were looking out for a local boy. Then, I saw him bat in our camp at the Palam ground.

“The kid was hitting it so sweetly and effortlessly and was also making batting look graceful. His timing was great. He did well when we gave him chances. You’re always nervous when you start your IPL career, it’s a big platform after all, but Rishabh looked confident,” said Amre.

The ex-India batsman outlined a few special qualities that Pant has shown during his phenomenal run in the Ranji Trophy so far.

“His triple hundred (against Maharashtra in Mumbai) showed that he has the concentration to bat that long. He scores at a fast pace and can smack the ball hard. He plays spin well too,” observed Amre.