Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s poor returns with the bat, bowling line-up barring Jasprit Bumrah looking toothless and Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement have taken everyone’s focus from Rishabh Pant. It is one thing that his bat has been silent because time and again in the past he’s proven to be a match-winner for Team India. But what’s worrying is his wicketkeeping.
Rishabh Pant’s wicketkeeping errors
He looked fine in the Perth Test but in Adelaide, everything went wrong. After failure with the bat, in the 7th over of the first innings, he dropped Nathan McSweeney when the batter was batting on 3. The opener went on to score 39 but more importantly, by the time he was dismissed in the 37th over, the Indian pacers were into their second spells, the pitch started to flatten out and the ball stopped helping the bowlers.
Then, in the 69th over, Pant didn’t go for a catch which between him and Rohit Sharma. The batter was dangerous Travis Head, who went on to score 50-60 extra runs from there on. Both of these were ‘what if’. Who knows what might have happened if both of these chances had gone India’s way.
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What changes can Rishabh Pant make behind the wickets?
Ian Healy, one of the finest glovemen of all time, opened up on how modern wicketkeepers aren’t specialist and that’s why they struggle. Asked about Pant’s wicketkeeping skills, Healy said that he’s still not a finished product but will get there in time. “Rishabh Pant is a work in progress, but I saw him in the mornings and like the drills he is doing; he is bound to improve more,” Healy told Indian Express.
Why is Pant making these mistakes? For Healy the reason is his trigger movement behind the stumps. “At times, as he did when he dropped a catch in this series earlier, he can make an initial wrong movement. Some keepers like to move a touch to their left first and then press from there. It’s better to be still and if you can’t, then you start that trigger movement a touch early so that by the time the ball is out there, you can still press to the right side. One of those two decisions have to be made,” he added.
