Farokh Engineer Heaps Praise On Indian Wicket-Keeper Rishabh Pant, Recalls His Knock In Australia

Former Indian cricketer Farokh Engineer lavished praises on Rishabh Pant’s high-class knocks in Australia and lauded him for improving his wicket-keeping aspect as well. Rishabh Pant has been one of the mainstays for India in the last six months and he is among the top Indian run-scorers since 2020. His consistency has been mind-blowing for the way he plays.

He won the Test on his own hand in the Gabba at the start of this year which will go down as a memorable one and since that, he has played some valuable knocks including a century against England in India. Pant has grown heaps and bounds from being the backup option to the number one choice wicketkeeper for India in every format.

Farokh Engineer Admits His Liking For Rishabh Pant

Farokh Engineer admitted that he had always been fond of Rishabh Pant as an individual and mentioned the attacking nature of Dhoni and Pant reminding him of himself in his younger days. He reckoned the difference in the era’s stating that he was more of a wicket-keeper batsman while Pant and Dhoni have been more of a batsmen wicketkeeper.

“I’ve always like Rishabh Pant as an individual. I’m very fond of him. Pant and Dhoni reminded me of my younger days. I was the same attacking batsman, but I’d like to think I was a better wicketkeeper.

“I was a wicketkeeper-batsman – predominantly a wicketkeeper and then a batter. Whereas Pant and Dhoni are batsman-wicket keepers. That means their batting comes first and then wicketkeeping,” Farokh Engineer told on Sports Tak.

Farokh Engineer Explains Rishabh Pant’s Uniqueness

Farokh Engineer mentioned that Rishabh Pant has worked hard on his wicket-keeping skills for Test cricket especially and it has been visible against England in India and overseas as well. He added that the uniqueness of Pant relies upon his supreme confidence relating to his gem of a knock in Australia.

“For one-day cricket, you can have a batsman-wicketkeeper. But for Test cricket, you need a proper wicketkeeper. Rishabh Pant did have his weakness; he was snatching the ball, getting up too soon. But he’s definitely improved as a wicketkeeper. 

“As a batsman, he is a unique phenomenon. He’s got that confidence that very few people have. You saw him in Australia, when he reverse-sweeped to get his hundred, only a complete idiot or a man with supreme confidence would do that. And I wouldn’t call him an idiot at all. I would call supreme confidence,” he added.

Rishabh Pant hasn’t made a big score in the ongoing England series yet and he will be hungry for more runs.

Read More – Shikhar Dhawan And Hardik Pandya Will Be The First Two Names In My T20 World Cup Squad: Farokh Engineer