Gavaskar Wants Rishabh Pant to Be Included Into the Team

Current wicketkeeper of the Indian Test Team Dinesh Karthik has failed to impress with the bat and gloves in the recent ongoing Test series against England.

Cricket news: Dinesh Karthik has scored 0, 20, 1 and 0 in four innings so far

This can open the squad for the young talent Rishabh Pant who can make his debut in the third Test at Trent Bridge. If that happens Kohli will again go with a changed team which is a regular scene since he took over as captain in 2015.

Karthik has so far managed 21 in four innings which includes two golden ducks in the first innings at Edgbaston and second innings at Lord’s, and has never looked reliable down the order.

This could just be the reason for the uncapped wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, who scored an unbeaten 34 against Essex in the three-day warm-up game, to enter the squad.

The 20-year-old cricketer from Delhi has an average of over 54 in the domestic circuit which includes a highest score of 308 and has so far featured in four T20Is for India, the last one being played in March this year.

Legendary Indian opener and former captain Sunil Gavaskar has also opted to use Pant in the Indian lineup as he said that his selection ahead of others justifies his talent.

“It is an opportunity for sure for the third Test, he might get into the team. The fact that he was chosen ahead of everybody else, the moment that Saha was declared unfit, just tells you about the thinking of the selection committee and team management. Pant might get in the team as a batsman down the order,” said Gavaskar, according to Times of India.

Pant had a decent IPL season this year and has also fared well for India A in the England tour in June and July. He scored five half-centuries in eight games, three of which came in the last four games.

If Pant gets selected and performs well, it would end India’s long search for wicketkeeper in the longest format since MS Dhoni retired in December 2014.

The management had long experimented with Karthik, Parthiv Patel and Wriddhiman Saha, among which Saha performed will comparatively to others but his frequent injuries does not help the team’s cause.