Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar reckoned that the young Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant should be the first choice for the keeping position over Wriddhiman Saha for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Ahead of the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia, a debate over the choice of wicketkeeping spot between Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant has become the talk of the town.
Rishabh Pant, who has been the preferred wicketkeeper in the overseas Tests because of his batting ability, however, he has been failing consistently poorly with the bat for a long time now. Pant was already out from the limited series owning to his poor form and fitness. However, he recently starred with the bat as he took the game by storm as he scored a century off just 73 balls, hitting 9 fours and 6 sixes.
Recently, Sunil Gavaskar heaped praises on Rishabh Pant. Gavaskar feels that apart from his ability with the bat, Rishabh can also dismiss a few players, being talkative from behind the stumps. Gavaskar said:
“Pant played in all four Tests two years ago and he also got a hundred. He seems to have got under the skin of some of the Australian players with his chirping behind the stumps. Plus, he is coming off a 100 in the practice game, so he will be the choice of the management,”
He added:
“Here, because India will play pacers, you [the keeper] can stand behind and you get that much more time from 15 yards behind the stumps. At the top of the order, India seems to be a little bit shaky, so they will want to strengthen their batting with Pant,”
However, Sunil Gavaskar claimed that Wriddhiman Saha would be the better choice between the two, especially on pitches, which provide turn and bounce, where the keeper needs to stand-up. He said:
“But when you are playing on pitches where the keeper has to stand up to the stumps, where the ball turns around a little bit, that’s when you tend to take your best keeper. In which case, Saha would be the obvious choice,”
Meanwhile, team India’s test series against Australia will kickstart on Thursday, December 17th with the Day-Night pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval.
