cricket

Updated: Aug 16, 2018 12:03 IST

As far as certificates in Indian batting go, they don’t get any better – India junior coach Rahul Dravid giving his stamp of approval to young Rishabh Pant’s credentials in first-class cricket.

“Rishabh has shown he could bat differently. He has the temperament and skills to bat differently,” the former India skipper said after Pant’s show for India A in England on a tour that ran parallel to the seniors’ first phase of engagements.

“He is always going to be an attacking player, but reading of the situation when one is playing red-ball cricket is required. We are glad he has been picked in the national team and I hope he takes this maturity and builds thereon,” Dravid said.

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Pant, 20, knows what battling the odds is, and swinging conditions will provide the challenge. The Roorkee boy had it rough chasing a cricket career before making it to the Delhi team and rising, with the India U-19 side and then through IPL batting exploits.

The 20-year-old wicket-keeper and hard-hitting left-handed batsman is on the verge of making his debut in the Trent Bridge Test starting on Saturday, to fill a hole caused by Dinesh Karthik. He has been shaky with the gloves and scores of 0, 20, 1, 0 in four innings are a big let down for a player who opened on his first England tour in 2007.

With orange streaks on his hair, Pant looks every bit a millennial, and came into the India Test squad as back-up to Karthik only due to Wriddhiman Saha’s injury. Pant’s experience in England and fearlessness can shore up India’s woeful batting and encourage the selectors and skipper Virat Kohli as the 2019 World Cup fast approaches.

Pant doesn’t have much experience and he will have to learn on the job. He has played only four T20s for India, and in 23 first-class games, has 66 catches and seven stumpings. He has made a mark in Ranji Trophy though, smashing 308 versus Maharashtra in the 2016-17 season, after making an impression in the U-19 World Cup in 2016 with Dravid as coach.

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In England this summer, he hit 64 not out for India A to beat England Lions in the tri-series final. In the first-class games, he hit 67 not out against West Indies A and 58 and 61 in the unofficial Test against England Lions at Worcester, in a big loss.

“On this trip, we challenged him a lot to bat according to the situation,” Dravid had said. “He got a crucial 64 not out in the one-day tri-series final when he was the last recognised batsman.”

Chief selector MSK Prasad had said there was a huge gap in standard between MS Dhoni and others, pointing to India’s poor wicket-keeping stocks. If Pant plays, it will be a great chance to prove himself in tough conditions.

In the last decade and half, it has been batsmen-keepers for India than the other way around -- Karthik, Dhoni and Patel. Karthik had almost given up keeping before his India return. Patel is a fighting batsman but his keeping was not up to scratch in South Africa as Saha’s replacement.

Saha is a genuine keeper-batsman, but 33 and injury-prone, India will be glad if Pant delivers amid a gloomy tour.