Rishabh Pant hasn’t played a first-class match in 20 months. On September 5, he’ll finally play a red-ball game. Already considered by many as India’s greatest-ever Test wicketkeeper, Pant has hundreds in South Africa, Australia, and England. The Team A vs B game in the Duleep Trophy will provide everyone the first glimpse of what the wicketkeeper batter is capable of in Test cricket after that unfortunate accident on December 30, 2022.
Rishabh Pant’s biggest rival
Pant will be going against two things. First will be his competitors. Dhruv Jurel, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, and even KL Rahul have all played in Pant’s absence. Out of these, Jurel is the only one who truly shined with both the ball and gloves, while Rahul was used as a stop-gap solution in South Africa. However, Pant’s biggest rival is he himself.
Pant has set a benchmark. Four of five centuries have come away from home. No other Indian wicketkeeper has hit even one. The last match he played, he scored 102 runs (93 & 9). You expect from someone of his level of talent to hit the ground running. He’s already a great and if not for that unfateful night, he might have come close to Andy Flower and Adam Gilchrist by now.
Duleep Trophy: What to expect from Pant?
People expect Pant to score big runs in the Duleep Trophy. But is that even possible? Since his return to cricket, the southpaw has played 25 matches, 24 of which have come in T20 cricket. Now, that isn’t exactly the perfect parameter to judge someone’s performance in red-ball cricket.
Regardless, some issues can be observed. His hand and eye coordination seemed to be a touch slow. This was evident in the IPL 2024 season. Since he hadn’t played competitive cricket in nearly 14 months, it wasn’t exactly a shock. On what was a batting-friendly IPL season, Pant did well and was Delhi Capitals highest run scorer. His foot movement looked great, and India took him to the T20 World Cup after seeing that he was somewhat close to his best.
Pant started well in the USA, but as the tournament went on, he struggled. Not much can be made of his performance there. The wickets were tough, and he was batting at 3. His intent was high, and unluckily, more often than not, he was out within a handful of balls. However, when Pant went to Sri Lanka, he still looked rusty. He couldn’t get going. Both in T20Is and ODIs.
Rishabh Pant’s record since return
| Inns | Runs | Balls Faced | Avg | SR | 50s & 100s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL 2024 | 13 | 446 | 287 | 40.55 | 155.4 | 3 & 0 |
| T20I | 10 | 222 | 169 | 27.75 | 131.36 | 0 & 0 |
| ODI | 1 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 66.66 | 0 & 0 |
| DPL | 1 | 35 | 32 | 35 | 109.37 | 0 & 0 |
That issue persisted in the inaugural match of the Delhi Premier League (DPL), where he couldn’t even hit the bowlers out of the park. Mind you, none of the bowlers had even played in the IPL. Pant still carries the rustiness despite playing pretty much non-stop cricket since March.
He’ll be going against the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, and Avesh Khan in the Team A vs B match. Mind you, all of these bowlers have represented India, and three of them have played Test cricket. Pant played red-ball cricket the best for India; the record clearly shows that. It’ll be fascinating to see if Pant is ready for the first-class challenge in the Duleep Trophy.
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