IND vs WI | Not the best keeper, Rishabh Pant is a match-winner with bat, reckons Simon Doull
BCCI
Simon Doull believes that Rishabh Pant is facing too much criticism for his keeping technique and he feels that Pant must be backed because he is a match-winner with the bat. Pant has dropped some tough catches against the spinners and that is one area that Doull reckons he must improve on.
Rishabh Pant has been under the scanner a bit too much since his experiment at number four in the World Cup did not work out well and ever since with every poor shot that he plays and every catch that he drops, he is severely criticized. Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull believes that Pant needs to be given proper help and confidence because he is an absolute matchwinner on his day and can single-handedly change the tide of a game.
"I guarantee that this cricketer (Pant) will be the most talked cricketer in India for the next 5,6,7,8 years to come because he is not the best keeper in the country. But it is not what he is there for. He is there because he is so talented, he wins you games with the bat and he is a work in progress behind the stumps," Doull said in a chat show on Cricbuzz.
Doull's question to the Indian management was who would be guiding the youngster, would it be Saha or will they be bringing in a wicket-keeper coach. Further, he admitted that his match-winning ability would surely make him very tough to drop from the side.
"So my only question would be who is he working under? is he working hard enough? I hope the answer is that he is working under Wriddhiman Saha or any other wicket-keeper coach and he is putting in hours and hours of hard work. That is the thing that India has to accept as of now because he is a match-winner and will win you games with the bat," he further mentioned.
Pant has put down a lot of catches and since he is termed to be the heir to Dhoni in white-ball cricket and Saha in red-ball cricket, Doull understands that he will often be compared to the two high-quality keepers. But it is his opinion that if Pant is given the right guidance, he can be a better keeper with time.
"There were some chances that were tough to take behind the stumps, but they would have been taken by Saha or Dhoni or any top-quality wicket-keepers around the world and thus he will be talked about for years and years to come. But I would not take the keeping off him because I don't think he would cope up that way," Doull reckons.
Pant did well with the bat against the West Indies and played two innings of completely different style, one was a patient 71 where the team needed a partnership after losing quick wickets, while the other one was a swashbuckling cameo of 38 runs in just 13 balls providing a strong finish to the batting innings. This adaptability does not come naturally to the batsmen unless they possess the talent and thus Doull believes that the right guidance will lead him to the appropriate destination.
"He (Pant) needs both the facets so that he could feel like a part of the game. So just get him the right help and who knows by the time the next World Cup or the T20 World Cup comes he could have got sharper and better," Doull concluded.
