Rishabh Pant Can Change The Complexion Of The Match With His Batting Also - Dilip Vengsarkar On The Debate Of Playing A Specialist Wicket-keeper
Published - 01 Jun 2021, 12:20 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:47 AM
Former India captain, Dilip Vengsarkar opines on the debate surrounding the wicketkeeper’s place in a Test time. The pundits remain divided on two options: a specialist keeper, whose batting can be looked at as a bonus but with keeping the first aspect on offer; or a keeper-batsman, whose batting is his selling point.
The classic example of this would be the two wicketkeepers in the Indian Test team currently: Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha. Pant has recently gained great acknowledgements, rather cemented his place in the side on the back of his batting. The youngster, however, was previously remained on the sidelines and, in fact, received plenty of flak for his ordinary wicket-keeping skills, which meant it was Saha who was picked ahead of Pant on a purely keeping basis.
Now, the left-hander has also improved his keeping while locking down his place across formats.
Same thing happened with Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Dilip Vengsarkar
Dilip Vengsarkar, who scored 10,000 runs for India, opines that a team cannot have a staunch theory on the wicket-keeper these days and needs to be flexible according to conditions and situations.
He reckons that Pant gives plenty of advantage to the team with the bat, and is improving in his keeping skills. Dilip Vengsarkar cites the example of former India captain and of the best keepers ever, MS Dhoni, who, like Pant, came in the side on his hyped-up batting acumen and, even with an unorthodox keeping technique, became a great gloveman.
“It depends according to the situation. You cannot have a fixed idea about certain things. The wicketkeeper is a very important position in the team. Besides effecting stumpings and run-outs, if he is batting well, why not?” Dilip Vengsarkar told CricketNext.
“If you have someone like Rishabh Pant, who can change the complexion of the match with his batting also, that is a huge advantage for the Indian team. You cannot have a fixed mind and say wicket-keeping comes first. If you are improving as a wicket-keeper, why not? Same thing happened with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He kept improving,” the 65-year-old added.
Rishabh Pant is set to tour England soon, the country where he made his Test debut and hit his maiden Test ton in 2018. Virat Kohli’s team will meet New Zealand for the WTC final on June 18 in Southampton, followed by a 5-Test series against Joe Root’s side.
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