Rishabh Pant emerges as a complete batsman-wicket-keeper package

The new Mr Natural has arrived not since Australias Adam Gilchrist has a precocious batsmanwicketkeeping talent burst on the cricketing scene Remember that Pants big hitting is now a familiar thing in Test cricketOn Friday he reverse swept Jimmy Anderson with impunity startling one and all at Motera There was no doubt about Pants ability to first rescue and then take India home with the bat an example of which he showed again on Friday with a swashbuckling century against England his third in Test match cricketWhat has come good in the ongoing Test series is his ability with wicketkeeping gloves Pant had kept well on difficult pitches in the previous two Tests in Chennai and here and also in this one establishing himself as the No1 wicketkeeper for India in all formats This is a big leap in three months time at the start of which it was being doubted if he would ever be able to step into Mahendra Singh Dhonis shoes or that he has lost himself in the comparisonHowever a couple of seriesdefining innings in Australia in January and his blitzkrieg 101 off 118 balls on Friday that took India from 153 for six wickets ie 52 runs behind England to 294 for seven and 89 runs ahead in just one session has proved that he is set for a long haulIndia opener Rohit Sharma on Friday said He seems to be doing the job for us He is more than ready I guess to step into Dhonis shoes Through in this series Pant has performed well behind the wickets even as the ball has kicked and jumped Former India stumper Kiran More says he is a matchwinner for him across all formatsI always maintained that unless you throw someone at the deep end how will he learn That is what happened with Pant He has been with Indian team for three years now That was a very sad thing not playing him in India I dont know what the reason was He was young inexperienced Inexperience doesnt help when you play in India But you have to give opportunities for experience Obviously over the period he has worked hard More told IANSPant wasnt picked for Tests in India apparently because his wicketkeeping skills werent considered up to mark However he has shown in this series that he belongs to this level both as a batsman and as a wicketkeeperOn Indian surfaces a wicketkeeper is always in the game If you do well you get appreciated If you drop one catch on a flat pitch it tends to get noticed But on tracks that aid turn even if you miss an odd ball people blame the pitch not your wicketkeeping skills So it is a bit easier that way added MorePant received a lot of flak for not batting sensibly He apparently lost his place in the side for not batting with responsibility A dismissal during the 2019 World Cup resulted in a lot of criticism However now he seems to have matured He carried India to a resounding win with unbeaten 89 in the fourth and final Test against Australia in Brisbane in January after helping India draw the third Test in Sydney with a 97Opener Sharma backed Pants batting style which is aggressive and has remained mostly unchanged from the startIn the first half of his innings he was fine trusting his defence absolutely and then once we got to 200 he just wanted to take on the bowlers which is fine You need those kind of players in your team who are not afraid to take on bowlers said Sharma describing Pants batting on FridayPants first halfcentury took 82 deliveries and then the next one took just 33 The innings was strategically wellconstructedHe is going to get more dangerous going to get more mature He has always been a matchwinner for me He will get more dangerous with his ability and aggression More experience he gets the more dangerous he gets in world of cricket He will win lots of Tests for India in all formats said MoreThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever