It looks almost certain for Rishabh Pant to make his debut for India against England in the third Test to be played from August 18 at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Cricket news: Rishabh Pant is set to debut in the third Test in place of Dinesh Karthik
Pant is set to replace the struggling Dinesh Karthik who has just scored 21 runs in four innings but what is more crime for a wicketkeeper is that he has conceded 30 byes until now.
Karthik and Pant are travelling with the Indian team because of the injury to the regular wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, who had recently undergone a shoulder surgery.
Karthik was thought to play well because of his form in limited overs format but now his failure has paved the way for Pant who has scored runs for India A against England Lions.
Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir feels that it would be justifiable to give Karthik one more chance before dropping him as he is in his brink of his career and if dropped might not get the opportunity to feature in the whites again.
“There will always be a temptation (to play Pant). I still feel that Dinesh Karthik is at that stage of his career, it’s now or never. So you got to always give someone an extra Test match than one lesser. People would be expecting for him to deliver with the amount of comebacks he’s made but those conditions are tough,” he said.
The 36-year-old cricketer also said that Pant has lot of years ahead of him and he has the liberty to wait for another chance to come by his way.
“If you don’t give him an opportunity in the next Test match or one more after that, we might never see him again. Rishabh can wait. He has a lot of years ahead of him. Because 6 innings, to be honest, can give you a better idea where the batter is,” he added.