Cricket: 'People said he can’t bat in Test cricket' - MSK Prasad on Rishabh Pant’s development in international cricket

The world of cricket has witnessed the quality of Rishabh Pant over the years. Even when he was going through a rough patch of form, the fans believed that the youngster would bounce back stronger and he did. Pant was one of the key players for India in their historic tour of Australia and continued his good run of form in the home series against England.

Pant, who has become the talk of the town due to his on-field heroics, however, did receive some flak when he was going through a torrid run of form. But he has answered his critics and heads into the WTC final and five-Test series against England as India’s number one wicket-keeper.

Former Indian chief selector MSK Prasad has heaped praise on the 23-year-old as he highlighted his development into one of the most feared batters in the world.

“That’s what we talk about succession. When we picked this guy (Pant), there was a lot of controversy. People said that he can’t bat in Test cricket and can’t keep in challenging wickets. So, what has happened today? See, how he kept wickets against England at home. And the way he batted in challenging batting conditions like England and Australia. The role of the selector is to identify the potential. Many people never believed that Pant would be so good,” Prasad told Cricket.com.

Prasad further explained why Wriddhiman Saha was initially put ahead of Rishabh Pant as the first-choice wicket-keeper in the Indian team. er has convinced the team management with his performance that he should be backed.

“Initially, when we picked Pant in the squad, Saha was the best keeper in the country purely because of his keeping skills. Later, we all accepted the fact that Pant will keep wickets in away series because your keeping skills are not tested much and batting skills become more important. With the stellar performances in Australia, Pant has convinced the team management that he needs to be backed even at home and immediately the way he kept wickets against England this year was there for all to see,” Prasad said.

Pant will be next seen in India’s WTC final assignment against New Zealand, starting June 18, before taking the field for the five-Test series against England, staring August 4.