'Rishabh Pant is special, a match winner, not an enigma'

Had Rishabh Pant scored only 38 runs more spread over five specific innings in his fledgling Test career the swashbuckling batsmanwicketkeeper would have seven centuries to show instead of just two in 18 Tests He has missed five tons so far largely because of his penchant for big shots to take the fight to the opponents camp and win matchesPant is just 23 and is fearless he became bold after his father used to tie a pillow to his chest and bowl with a cork ball on the terrace of their home in Roorkie Uttarakhand But most importantly perhaps he has the support and backing of India captain Virat Kohli coach Ravi Shastri and the present national as well as the previous selection committeeAt times however Pant seems to lose focus and attempts ambitious shots that lead to his downfall This happened in the first innings of the ongoing first Test against England on Sunday At 91 he danced down the pitch to attempt a bit shot against offspinner Dominic Bess and was caught out at deep cover With India trying to match Englands 578 it was a prudent shot selectionIt was the fifth instance of Pant preferred to Wriddhiman Saha for the first Test missing a century when he was at handshaking distance with a threefigure mark This has made tongues wagging with some people questioning if Pant is an enigma even as they acknowledge him as a matchwinner of rare quality in the Virender Sehwag mouldHe is surely not an enigma Hes a game changer and a match winner He is a special player and has a ruthless mindset to win matches something like that of Sehwag So he has to be persisted with and given a long rope Kiran More former chairman of the national selection committee told IANSBut he will have to temper his aggressive play at times I am sure he will learn with experience After all he has helped India win two away series And those wins have come against a top team Australia and on their home turf said the former India wicketkeeper referring to Indias remarkable successive Test series wins in 201819 and 202021The previous selection committee headed by former India wicketkeeper MSK Prasad had also backed Pant to the hiltWe selection committee always backed him because we felt he was a match winner with the bat Thats why we made him deputy to Mahendra Singh Dhoni in his early days and then Saha so that he would grow into a good wicketkeeperbatsman under the guidance of the two seniors in shorter and longer formats Prasad told IANSWith regard to batting theres absolutely no doubt that hes a matchwinner and he has done that too in Australia and England Hes not a guy who plays for records he loves to dominate So he should be left alone and should be backed Slowly when the maturity dawns on him he will understand the value of his wicket Thats how Adam Gilchrist of Australia and some others played in the early part of their careers said the former Andhra captainNayan Mongia a former India wicketkeeper also backed PantThe team management and the selectors have invested so much in him that we need to back him and to a certain extent he has justified that He should value his wicket and play according to the situation Once hes close to 80s and 90s he should convert those into big hundreds He should continue playing his natural game but he needs to be sensible and understand the situation of the game You cannot play according to your wishes all the time sometimes you need to bat according to the teams wishes also he saidIt is Pants wicketkeeping that concern a few peopleWicketkeeping is an area that he needs to work on He needs a wicketkeeping coach in fact the Indian team needs one as there are two other talent wicketkeepers around Sanju Sampson and Ishan Kishan Pant needs help and he is not getting it at the moment says MorePrasad concurs Right now Pant is in good space of mind My only concern is that if he starts keeping wickets well one skill will compliment that other batting Right now since he has batted well in this Chennai Test it has rubbed on to his wicketkeeping also though he had a couple of opportunities missed If he gets one more big knock on Tuesday and finish off this Test on a high then slowly hell be passing both tests in wicketkeeping and batting in this fourmatch series said Prasad referring to the 420run target India is chasing in the fourth innings in ChennaiMongia too feels Pant needs to improve wicketkeeping But hes learning and improving and needs to learn very fast because wicketkeeping is a specialised job Even if you score a century but drop a few catches bowlers confidence will go down Hes young and Im sure he knows that he has to work on his game and fitness he saidThis 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