Sourav Ganguly eulogises Rishabh Pant ahead of South Africa clash
Sourav Ganguly eulogises Rishabh Pant ahead of South Africa clash
Ahead of the Test series against South Africa, starting 2nd October, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has backed youngster Rishabh Pant. The young wicket-keeper has been under immense pressure for his poor shot selection in his last few limited overs outings but Sourav Ganguly is of the judgement that Rishabh Pant will get better with time.
“There has been talk about Pant’s shot selection and rightly so but all must understand, he will learn and only get better,” Ganguly wrote in his column for The TOI.
Rishabh Pant scored 19 and 4 in the two T20Is against South Africa and on both the occasions, he was dismissed due to his poor shot selection. But the former Indian captain held high praise for Rishabh Pant and deemed him a long term bet and a solution for Indian cricket team in all formats of the game.
“He has a young batting unit under him and all of them will need a lot of support from the captain, at the top of the list will be Rishabh Pant. His entry into international cricket has been brilliant and for me, he is India’s solution for all the formats. He is a match-winner and a longterm bet for India,” Ganguly said.
Rishabh Pant has been affixed as team India’s first choice wicket-keeper in all formats of the game after MS Dhoni distanced himself from cricket post 2019 World Cup in England. Sourav Ganguly on his part didn’t react much on India’s performance in the three match T20I series against the Proteas which concluded in a 1-1 draw as the first match in Dharamshala was abandoned due to incessant rain.
“India last played against Australia at home in T20 games and now against South Africa and the results have not been a happy one for them but that can happen in sport. One has to give credit to South Africa for their fightback to level the series in the third T20,” Ganguly said.
“The T20 World Cup is in Australia next year and it is quite natural that a lot of so called interested parties in cricket will jump up and down, passing their opinions and judgements about all that can happen. The key person amidst all this will be Virat Kohli and it will be important for him to stay calm for a long period of time,” he added.
India will now face the South African team in the three-match Test series, starting 2nd October in vizag.