Australia vs India: Farokh Engineer wants Parthiv Patel to be picked ahead of Rishabh Pant in Tests

Parthiv Patel and Rishabh Pant are the two wicket-keepers in India’s Test squad at the moment. They will fight for the spot ahead of the first Test though it goes without saying that the latter will make it to the playing XI in Adelaide given the way he played in his last outing. However, the former Indian cricketer Farokh Engineer is in favour of Parthiv Patel as he is a better wicket-keeper and also has the experience of playing in Australia before.

While Parthiv last played in South Africa earlier this year, the youngster Pant made his Test debut during the England tour thanks to Dinesh Karthik’s poor outing. The 21-year-old impressed everyone by getting off the mark in his Test career with a six over the bowler’s head. He also smacked an aggressive century in the fifth and final game where India were set an improbable target to chase down.

Parthiv is still fit

Farokh Engineer, while speaking on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of the 1886 Trophy at the Parsee Gymkhana, felt that Parthiv Patel should be preferred during the Test series against Australia. He was of the opinion that Pant plays his shots way too early in the longest format of the game and can keep wickets in the ODIs.

“I have seen one or two wicketkeepers. Pant was trying to play a reverse sweep even before he could get his eyes on the ball. He was out. Get your eyes in first. You don’t need to take chance. Pant has shown a lot of promise in batting. Parthiv is still fit. Rishabh will be my choice for one-dayers, for Tests it will be Parthiv, although he is 35,” Engineer was quoted as saying by Sportstar Live.

The 80-year-old also lashed out at the team’s approach towards the wicket-keepers in the modern game. He believed that at least in the Tests, one should be wicket-keeper first and then the batsman which is not the case and is costing the teams big time.

“Unfortunately, we produce batsmen-keepers these days and not wicketkeeper-batsmen. In my time, you had to be a wicketkeeper first. You cannot let it side down. Even if you score big runs, but drop catches, it will cost you 200 runs. You have to be a wicketkeeper first,” Farokh added.

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