Rishabh Pant has improved as keeper but still needs to work on footwork against pacers, suggests Ajay Ratra
Giving his opinion on the Wriddhiman Saha-Rishabh Pant debate, former India keeper Ajay Ratra has stated that Saha is very good on turning tracks, thus it is only fair for him to play ahead of Pant. Ratra has also added that the Delhi keeper needs to work on his footwork while keeping to pacers.
While there is no doubt about what Rishabh Pant brings to the table as a massively talented middle-order batsman, the Indian team management decided to hand Wriddhiman Saha the keeping responsibilities for the South Africa Test series. Saha was a huge part of India’s home dominance over the years, with him effecting 37 dismissals in 2017 itself when India beat Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at home and the Lankans, again, away. Even India’s spinning duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja - two major architects of India’s terrific home run - seem to be preferring Saha as a keeper over Pant, who had shown immense batting prowess but faltered behind the stumps when he was inserted to keep in difficult wickets.
In the paradoxical situation, opinions have been divided but Ratra, a fan of two keepers for contrasting qualities, threw his weight behind the Bengal keeper who had missed his spot in the team due to injury before making a comeback to the squad for the Windies series in September. In an exclusive chat with SportsCafe, Ratra said that Saha’s wicket-keeping skills, especially on difficult turning tracks, has never been in doubt and he is not that bad as a batsman too when pitted against Pant's statistics.
“There is no doubt about the Saha’s wicket-keeping skills and especially on difficult turning tracks, Pant is still a work in progress. No doubt he did well in England and Australia and comparatively he was even improving. But when it comes to wicket-keeping skills definitely we can say that Saha is far ahead,” Ratra told SportsCafe in an exclusive interview.
“I think Indian Team Management took this decision because they are playing at home and especially at fourth & fifth-day turning pitches and they have given importance to Wriddhiman keeping skills. And also, it's not like he can’t bat at all, he is a decent batsman, he has three centuries to his name as well. I think that's the reason the team chose him.”
When Saha was nursing the injury, and thus missed as many as 18 months of action from the international stage, Pant scored the only centuries for an India wicketkeeper in England and in Australia. On his return to domestic cricket, though, Saha hit two fifties in the two unofficial Tests for India A in West Indies and another half-century against South Africa A sealed the deal for him. However, Ratra believes that the visible chink in Pant’s armour needs some improvement while adding that Pant looked quite improved in Australia than he was in England last year.
“If we see after England and even in Australia, he looked quite improved but somehow I think he needs to work on footwork against the Pacers, the balance should be right on both the feet and also with spinner, getting up with the ball and hands should be kept low. So, that is what I have observed and having said that, he has really improved as compared to England. England is such a place where wicket-keeping is difficult as the ball moves late after crossing the batsman also.
“In that way, he did well in Australia apart from that Pant has even created some records as well, the fastest Indian keeper to 50 wickets. If we see the way he is improving, it must have been a tough call. Also, it could have happened because of Rishabh's form in shorter formats and also West Indies and keeping that in mind, they gave Wriddhiman a chance, as he got very very good basics of keeping when you talk about footwork and glove work. But since Rishabh has age and he is good, so it must have been a tough call.”
Apart from the decision to pick Saha ahead of Pant, the decision that had a lot of criticism ahead of the series was the one to give Rohit Sharma a promotion in the batting order. But the Mumbaikar quashed all the confusions to rest, with a swashbuckling 176 in the first innings, and a well-crafted 127 in the second innings, to take home the man of the match award. The opener couldn’t replicate the same feat in the second Test in Pune, scoring just 14 off 35 balls, but Ratra is of the opinion that Rohit is too good a batsman to be sitting on the bench.
“I think Rohit is too good a batsman to sit on the bench and even if we see his record, it wasn’t bad but yes his record wasn’t the same as ODIs or T20s. He looks like he has so much time. Since there wasn’t a place for him and he was the best batsman in the country in One day and even the openers didn’t do too well so there was a place vacant and I think sometimes destiny takes its own turns. He got five hundreds in the World Cup and I get that it’s a different format but it affects a lot, you take confidence from one format to the other and after 5 hundred you have such a batsman in your team, you give it a thought.
"I would like to praise the Team Management here that the player who did well In West Indies like Vihari or Rahane wasn’t removed for Rohit but he got the chance of an opener which was empty as Shikhar did not do well in Tests and KL Rahul too couldn’t perform too well. So, there are times when things go in such a way that your place is made in the team so you can call it coincidence too. Another commendable thing about the team management is that they made it clear that whoever we give chances to would be for a series or two to three Test matches and they made it clear in Wriddhiman and Pant’s case as well, that we are taking Wriddhiman and that way I would appreciate them,” the 38-year-old added.
