IND vs SL 2022 | Hallmark of the first Test for Rishabh Pant will be his glovework, says Dinesh Karthik

India made a winning start to the Test series against Sri Lanka winning the series opener in Mohali by an innings and 222 runs. The Test match was a special game for Virat Kohli as it was his 100th Test. Also, it was first Test for Rohit Sharma as the new red-ball captain for India. he continues to  maintain his impressive captaincy record. Ravindra Jadeja was the protagonist in the match but Rishabh Pant also played a vital part in the victory. 

Pant played a knock of 96 runs in his own style. Heb built the innings slowly and steadily but attacked the bowlers after crossing the 50-run mark. Along with this. Pant did a brilliant job with his gloves behind the wickets. Dinesh Karthik has opined that Pant’s glovework was very impressive throughout the game. 

"I think his batting is phenomenal and we can speak a lot about it. But I think the hallmark of this Test for him personally would be how well he kept. I think some of his catches, the Pathum Nissanka's catch was a brilliant take, it was a hard one. Whenever an off-spinner bowls into the rough a little bit and the ball is turning in, it is a hard one to take because you never know which one is going to straighten and which one is going to turn in. And, on top of that, if it deviates off the bat, it becomes that much harder and that's where I like Pant because his hands in the right place," he said to Cricbuzz.

Pant has been improving with the number of matches he is playing. He is emerging as a matured batsman and a quality wicketkeeper in Test cricket. Pant took three catches in the match. Karthik said that Pant has worked hard on his wicket keeping and he is getting rewarded for his hard work. 

"When you practice close-in, you need to practice so much that your hands are in the right place. It needs to be second nature to you because you don't have time to think. You need to have your instincts working better than people who do it in the outfield and for that, you need to put in X amount of hard work," he stated.

"You can see, the amount of work he has put off the field on his keeping is reflecting on it. Why he couldn't do it before was obviously a technical flaw and over a period of time he has addressed it. And, he looked solid in this game and I liked both the catches he took - low and making sure the hands are soft.”