New Delhi: Rishabh Pant’s fearless batting has impressed chairman of selectors MSK Prasad, who now wants the youngster to complement it with quality glovework at the highest level.
The 20 year became the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a hundred in England during the Oval Test but was shoddy behind the stumps in the three Tests he played.
“am really happy the way Rishabh batted in the last Test in England. In fact we never had any doubts about his batting skills. My only concern is about his wicket-keeping,” Prasad told this agency, Sunday.
However Prasad, a former India stumper himself, wants a training module to be created for Rishabh, wherein he can hone his skills under specialist keeping coach.
“’Now that he (Rishabh) has the experience of three Test matches under his belt, he would have understood the areas that he needs to work on. We are also trying to put him under a wicket-keeping specialist coach for some time. Along with Rishab we have identified few more upcoming wicket-keepers who need to be trained. I expect Rishabh to serve Indian cricket for a long time,” Prasad said, laying out his plans.
The performances of the Indian openers were disappointing throughout the series save KL Rahul’s 149 at Oval, but Prasad pointed how the England openers had also struggled.
“’Yes, it is definitely a cause of concern. If you look at it whenever we have got that good start we went on to win the Test match. Having said that openers of both the teams struggled in this series due to tough conditions,” Prasad pointed out.
“playing 160 Tests, a player of Alastair Cook’s calibre has failed throughout the series except the last Test. In his interview, Cook openly said that this was one of the toughest conditions he played in his entire career. So we should be a bit more considerate about our players,” Prasad added.
However, he assured that both Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal will get their dues for stupendous show at the national and A level.
“Yes I do agree that Mayank and Prithvi have been consistently performing well at domestic and India A levels. They will get their dues soon,” asserted the chairman of the selectors
Prasad also echoed the sentiments of captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri that 1-4 isn’t a reflection of how much effort the team put in.
“It was a great series where the result of 1-4 is not the true reflection of the tough contest we had between the two teams. There were moments for us in this series which we could have capitalised and had we done so, it would have been a different proposition all together,” Prasad pointed out.