Australia vs India 2018-19 | Rishabh Pant |
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Indian National Cricket team player Rishabh Pant took the cricketing world by storm with his unbeaten 159 runs knock on day two of the fourth Test against Australia at Sydney. He shared two massive stands with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja as India declared at 622 for seven in the first innings.

Meanwhile, Pant impressed since he made his debut in the international circuit. He smashed a brilliant hundred against England in challenging conditions. However, he struggled to convert the starts since the four-match Border-Gavaskar series began. But he has finally found the right chords, and it came with a bang.

Rishabh Pant came to the middle after the departure of Hanuma Vihari, and since then he made the Sydney crowd dance to his tune. He paced his innings brilliant, unlike the other days when he had to pay the price for being too over aggressive. In the way of scoring his second Test hundred, Pant became the only wicket-keeper batsman to score two overseas Test hundred and the first one to do so in Australia. In addition to, he also broke a 13-year-old record held by MS Dhoni. He overtook Dhoni 148 against Pakistan in 2006 to now have the highest overseas score by an Indian wicket-keeper.

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Wriddhiman Saha | Rishabh Pant |
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Rishabh Pant or Wriddhiman Saha?

Amid all the Pant praise, the vital question that has set Twitter ablaze is – what will happen to Pant’s place in the Indian Test XI when Wriddhiman Saha is ready to join the squad? Former Indian cricketers, Sanjay Manjrekar an Ajit Agarkar placed their opinions on the critical debate.

Saha suffered a shoulder injury during the tour of South Africa which aggravated during the Indian Premier League. As a result, he missed the all-important England tour and the subsequent tours. While Wriddhiman Saha has set his eyes on the India return, Pant has already cemented his place in the playing XI.

While Agarkar feels that despite the poor catch drop Pant should retain his place keeping his batting in mind, Manjrekar is of the opinion that batting should not be outweighed by his wicketkeeping.

Sanjay Manjrekar
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The only thing is anyone can drop a catch. It could have well been Saha dropping a catch. Yes, that catch should have been taken by most fielders or keepers,” said Agarkar in conversation on ESPNCricinfo.

What India could do is that have Saha around in the squad to let Pant know that if keeping drops to levels that are going to be a burden to the team then we will be looking at the better wicketkeeper,” Manjrekar argued.

What about Pant as a batsman?” – “He has got a knack of scoring runs. We crib about the way he gets out when he has got all scores pf 3os and 40s. And when he bats at third gear, I like him,” praised Manjrekar.

 “I am not going to hold that catch against him. But he continues to deteriorate then you can judge,” Agarkar said in reply.

I am just worried that batting should not outweigh his keeping, especially against stronger teams,” concluded Manjrekar.

 

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