Former Indian Cricketer Not Happy With Wicketkeeping Skills of Rishabh Pant

Syed Kirmani, the former wicketkeeper of India, recently revealed that he is not at all happy with the footwork of Rishabh Pant behind the stumps and it needs a lot of improvement.

Cricket news: Pant recently performed well in the first Test against Windies

Pant had made his Test debut against England this year in place of Dinesh Karthik, who was sent packing because of his poor outing with the bat.

On his debut match, Pant opened his account with a straight six of the second ball he faced. However he was dismissed for just 24 but took 7 catches behind the stumps.

His performance with bat and glove was not good thereafter as he managed to score 1, 0, 18 and 5 and also conceded 76 byes in six innings against England.

However he made amends in the last Test at The Oval by notching up his maiden Test century, but that effort went in vain as it was in a losing cause.

The team management kept their faith on the young man and selected him for the Test series against Windies. He kept their faith by scoring an explosive 92, missing out on a second consecutive Test century, as he was dismissed by Devendra Bishoo.

While Syed Kirmani is impressed with Pant’s batting, he believes that Pant needs a lot of room for his improvement as a wicketkeeper.

Speaking to Indian Express he said, “He reminded me of MS Dhoni when I first heard of him. He was a terrific hitter of the ball but not that technically adept behind the stumps. He worked on his shortcomings and look where that took him.”

“Pant’s footwork behind the stumps is not good. He does not move with the ball, instead dives at the last moment. These will take time. My main point is, look at the young keepers in the country. How will they learn? You have specific coaches for each and every position except for such a specialist role,” he added.

Kirmani is impressed to see the fearlessness in Pant’s batting approach, no matter what the format of the game may it be.

“Pant’s gung-ho approach to batting is quite refreshing to watch. He should not change the way he plays the game. That may lead to trouble. What he should, however, look at is conversion. The classic example today was Virat Kohli at the other end. When he got set, he ensured he reached a century. You should not miss out after doing all the hard work,” he concluded.