Former India wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer has criticized Rishabh Pant’s wicket-keeping skills a lot in the past but he has now come out claiming that the 23-year-old is a ‘vastly improved’ Keeper as compared to what he was before.
Pant effected four dismissals in the second Test against England in Chennai, which included two sharp catches and a couple of equally good stumpings. He followed that up with two more dismissals in the third Test in Ahmedabad.
Engineer sees his younger self in Pant now and also thinks that the youngster has improved just like MS Dhoni. The former India captain and Wicket-Keeper wasn’t exactly lauded by the pundits for his keeping skills when he arrived at the international scene. But he went on to be one of the best wicket-keepers in the world, effecting a total of 829 dismissals in his international career.
“Rishabh Pant reminds me of my younger days. He has vastly improved. He originally had some technical flaws. But he’s practiced hard like MS Dhoni. When he came on the scene, he wasn’t a great keeper. But he practiced and worked on his mistakes,” Engineer told SportsKeeda in an interview.
“Rishabh has a wonderful eye. A wonderful sense of balance and timing. These are the three ingredients for a wicket-keeper or a good cricketer.”
Engineer also believes that athleticism comes naturally to Pant, something which makes him think that the youngster could have excelled in any sport other than cricket.
“Rishabh Pant will be successful at whatever sport he plays. Because once you have a sense of timing, balance and anticipation you can play any sport. Wicket-keeping certainly needs these three things, and Rishabh Pant has all of them.”
Pant has been in brilliant batting form as well. He played two defining knocks of 93 and 89* during India’s tour Down Under. In fact, his 89* in the final Test at the Gabba was a match-winning effort. Moreover, he has scored two fifties in this ongoing series as well and that sums up how well he is doing with his batting too. Pant will be looking to deliver his best once again as India go into the final Test of the series against England.
