Pant in Tests, KL Rahul in limited-overs most suitable to replace Dhoni, opines Brad Hogg
With MS Dhoni’s future being uncertain, Brad Hogg has chosen Rishabh Pant as his first choice of Indian wicket-keeper in Test and KL Rahul in limited-overs. Meanwhile, Hogg has also rated Wridhhiman Saha’s keeping skills highly but explained that Pant and Rahul are better batsmen.
The last time MS Dhoni was seen in the Indian jersey when the team was knocked out from the 2019 World Cup, after losing the semifinal game against New Zealand. While the former Indian captain hasn’t made any official statement about his retirement, Dhoni’s future in Indian cricket stands uncertain. That automatically puts pressure on the team management to find Dhoni’s successor as the full-time wicketkeeper of India. Wriddhiman Saha, who is widely recognised for his excellent glovework, was Dhoni’s successor. But Rishabh Pant, who had a great Test series in 2018 India’s tour of England and in Australia when Saha was injured, had proven himself as a better batsman than the Bengal keeper.
Former Australia allrounder Brad Hogg, in a video uploaded on his Youtube channel Hogg’s Vlog, revealed why and whom he would pick as India keeper in Tests and in the limited-overs format. He explained that he wouldn’t have KL Rahul in Tests because he’s not a full-time wicketkeeper in first-class. So he would go for either Saha or Pant, with him inclining a bit more towards the youngster.
“Let’s firstly look at who is the better keeper. We have to go to Saha first because he’s the best. Why? Because he stays low. When the ball comes, he doesn’t move till the last moment, he moves with soft hands, and he gives. Also, he’s got very nimble feet, where he’s quick at down leg side and to take those stumpings. He’s got the good reach, and quick hands to come back and take the stumpings. And when he’s up to the stumps, those quick catches off the edge, he generally takes most of them,” Hogg said.
“KL Rahul has shown he can keep in the shorter formats with the opportunities he has got earlier in the year. Much like Saha, he is quick with the hands. But because of his height, he’s slightly slower down the leg side. Pant is a little more flat-footed. He’s got hard hands and he snatches more at the ball than the other two. So who is the ideal player to keep wickets in all three formats? In Tests, I wouldn’t have KL Rahul keeping because he doesn’t do enough of it at first-class level. It would put pressure on his batting, I’d be too afraid that his batting will fall away because of the extra work load. So, you’ve got to go with either Saha or Pant,” he further added.
Meanwhile, Hogg picked Rahul as his keeper choice for India in limited-overs because of Rahul’s maturity in all the roles that he has played for India, giving him an edge over Pant.
“In white-ball formats, you would think with that aggressive in Pant, I would be going for him in ODIs and T20Is. I am not. Saha is not the man either, because he doesn’t have that strike rate, and he doesn’t find the boundaries as easier as Pant or Rahul. So, I am going to go with Rahul,” he said.
“If you compare stats of Rahul, Pant, the former is more aggressive in all three phases of ODIs. It’s the same story in all three formats of T20 cricket. Where Pant loses his way there is that he’s just over-aggressive, he gets too ahead of himself, he doesn’t get composure in those crucial situations, whereas Rahul is more mature,” he added.