Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul or Wriddhiman Saha: Ex-Australia Star Reveals Pick For India's Full-Time Wicketkeeper

With MS Dhoni’s future in international cricket not cleat at all, India face a herculean task of finding the right replacement for the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman. Dhoni has not played a competitive game since the end of the World Cup in July last year.

He would have made his much-awaited return to action during the IPL but the tournament has been suspended indefinitely in the light of the pandemic. The India team-management, nonetheless, has been busy trying out different wicketkeepers to find the right replacement.

As soon as Dhoni took the sabbatical, Rishabh Pant got the nod to keep the wickets across all the formats. However, the youngster failed miserably and was soon replaced by Wriddhiman Saha in Tests and KL Rahul in limited-overs format. But on the tour of New Zealand, India once again handed him the wicketkeeping gloves during the Tests although Rahul kept the wickets in ODIs and T20Is.

Brad Hogg’s suggestion for Team India:

With Team India still not sure over who should keep the wickets, former Australia spinner Brad Hogg might have made their task a bit easier. Speaking on his YouTube channel, he revealed why and whom he would pick as India keeper in Tests and in limited-overs format.

He hailed Wriddhiman Saha as the best wicketkeeper before stating that he would like to see one between Saha and Pant to keep the wickets in Tests.

“Let’s firstly look at who is the better keeper. We have to go to Saha first, because he’s the best. Why? Because he stays low. When the ball comes, he doesn’t move till the last moment, he moves with soft hands, and he gives. Also, he’s got very nimble feet, where he’s quick at down leg side and to take those stumpings. He’s got the good reach, and quick hands to come back and take the stumpings. And when he’s up to the stumps, those quick catches off the edge, he generally takes most of them,” Hogg said.

“KL Rahul has shown he can keep in the shorter formats with the opportunities he has got earlier in the year. Much like Saha, he is quick with the hands. But because of his height, he’s slightly slower down the leg side. Pant is a little more flat-footed. He’s got hard hands and he snatches more at the ball than the other two,” he further added.

“So who is the ideal player to keep wickets in all three formats? In Tests, I wouldn’t have KL Rahul keeping because he doesn’t do enough of it at first-class level. It would put pressure on his batting, I’d be too afraid that his batting will fall away because of the extra work load. So, you’ve got to go with either Saha or Pant,” Hogg said.

The former left-arm spinner said that he would prefer Pant in Test cricket as the keeper choice because of his aggressive batting style.

“Pant’s batting is more explosive than Saha. If you look at India’s top order, their top five do the bulk of the world. What you need from your no. 7 is someone to come out and take the game on, and get as much runs as quickly as possible. It moves the game forward and gives the bowlers more time to take 20 wickets, which you need in a Test match. So, for me, even if Pant misses a few stumpings that Saha would get, he puts the team in a much better position than Saha to win the Test match with his bat,” he said.

Talking about shorter formats, Hogg picked Rahul as his keeper choice for India.

“In white-ball formats, you would think with that aggressive in Pant, I would be going for him in ODIs and T20Is. I am not. Saha is not the man either, because he doesn’t have that strike rate, and he doesn’t find the boundaries as easier as Pant or Rahul. So, I am going to go with Rahul,” he said.

“If you compare stats of Rahul, Pant, the former is more aggressive in all three phases of ODIs. It’s the same story in all three formats of T20 cricket. Where Pant loses his way there is that he’s just over-aggressive, he gets too ahead of himself, he doesn’t get composure in those crucial situations, whereas Rahul is more mature,” he added.

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