“He has to work really hard on his wicketkeeping”: Ravi Shastri on Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant has been in the news for long for his poor form both with the bat and wicket-keeping skill. Moreover, he got hit on the head and was concussed in the recently-concluded home series against Australia. In his absence, KL Rahul replaced him behind the stumps and did a great job. Even after regaining full fitness, he was dropped from the playing XI.

Rahul smashed a quickfire 80 in the second ODI against Australia in Rajkot to help India’s win. Rahul did a great job with the gloves as well which impressed the Indian captain Virat Kohli who later confirmed KL Rahul will keep wickets in the New Zealand series as he adds more stability in the squad.

KL Rahul has done the job ahead of Pant in the first T20I against New Zealand in Auckland where his batting has added another feather in his hat as well. He smashed a blitzy half-century and laid the winning foundation of India as well.

But the focus is on Rishabh Pant. He has dropped from Test squad where Wriddhiman Saha replaced him and now, he has lost his place to Rahul in the limited-overs format as well. Pant played almost every game in white-ball cricket and it was only against West Indies at home where he started regaining his old form but unfortunately, that didn’t stay long. Eventually, he lost his place as well.

There have been many times when Pant faced criticisms from not only fans but also from head coach Ravi Shastri. Hence, he cleared the air over the confusion of Pant and his place in the side.

“He has to work really hard on his wicketkeeping. He is not a natural ‘keeper but he’s got all that talent which will go to waste if he doesn’t work on his keeping. I think he has realised that and if you see him now, he is working extremely hard on his ‘keeping as well,” Ravi Shastri told The Hindu in an interview recently.

It will be interesting to see how Rishabh Pant could work on his batting and keeping and get back to the Indian team.