‘What you see is what you get with him’ – R Sridhar is all praises for ‘extremely exciting package’ Rishabh Pant

‘What you see is what you get with him’ – R Sridhar is all praises for ‘extremely exciting package’ Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant

Banishing the ghosts of a dismal Indian Premier League (IPL) season and that of being dropped from the white ball sides, Rishabh Pant rose to the occasion when his side needed him the most. Pant played to scintillating knocks under pressure to help India seal a historic Test series win. His knocks of 97 and 89* in the final two Tests, which will be remembered for a long time to come, proved the calibre of the young gun.

Fielding coach R Sridhar was all praises for Pant following his heroics Down Under. Sridhar asserts that the swashbuckling southpaw has the ability to thrill and disappointing in equal measures.

“What you see is what you get with Rishabh. He can give you heart attacks; he can give you heart aches; he can give you heart breaks. But he can also give you moments that take your breath away,” Sridhar said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.

He is a work in progress

Rishabh Pant

While Pant’s prowess with the bat is battle proven, his skills behind the stumps which has drawn flack for him ever since he first turned up for the national side. And the story was the same in Australia as he dropped as many as five chances in an innings. Sridhar informs that Pant is a ‘work in progress’. He adds that Pant ‘sacrificed his batting’ to work on his wicketkeeping skills during the tour Down Under.

“There have been occasions on this tour where he sacrificed his batting to work an extra half an hour or one hour on his wicketkeeping. So, that’s great news for everybody who wants to know. He is a work in progress.“

Pant top-scored for India in the four-Test series in Australia with 274 runs averaging over 68. The fielding coach feels that being a left-hander, Pant is an exciting package which brings ‘variation in the middle order.’

“He is a great package, probably one of the most explosive cricketers and one of the most fearless cricketers going around. Plus, he is a left-hander, so that adds a lot of variation in the middle order. So, all in all, Rishabh Pant as a package is extremely exciting,” the fielding coach said.

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