India vs England: Ravi Ashwin schools Rishabh Pant after he misses a stumping chance

Rishabh Pant’s ability to keep wickets has been a subject of debate for the past few months. Even though the Delhi player has shown some athletic efforts as a keeper, he has put down some simple chances as well. With the tracks in the sub-continent being suitable for a spin, there were a lot of discussions on whether he will be the right man for the job.

The debate has once again come to the limelight after the wicketkeeper missed quite an easy chance of stumping. The incident happened on the third day of the first Test between India and England at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The missed stumping opportunity has irked the debate once again if Wriddhiman Saha should have been selected as a specialist wicketkeeper.

Off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin, Jack Leach tried to step up and have a go at the ball. But the ball moved away from him and he missed it. Pant had a lot of time to collect the ball and dislodge the bails but failed to do so. The ball slipped from his gloves. Ashwin’s reaction after the missed stumping said it all and soon, fans on Twitter started talking about this. 

#INDvsENG #RishabhPant doing #RishabhPant pic.twitter.com/ipfUUIAJqm

— Ravi1 (@1RaviR) February 7, 2021

Ravi Ashwin schools Rishabh Pant later

Ashwin was later seen having a word with Pant after the England side got all-out. Pant’s keeping has been brought to question several times in the course of the past few months. He has been heavily facing criticism about all his missed chances behind the stumps. But, the performances with the bat in Australia, where he scored a match-winning 89 in the Gabba Test confirmed him a slot when India arrived at the home to play England. 

The young keeper had dropped a catch early on in the Test match off the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah. Even though it was a tough chance and Rory Burns eventually got out without doing too much damage, there weren’t too many people talking about the incident. 

At lunch on day two, India was batting on 59 for 2 after losing their openers in the first ten overs. Jofra Archer took the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli were at the crease facing an uphill task of getting closer to the England first innings total of 578 runs. 

pic.twitter.com/SIHQWygtqo

— Sandybatsman (@sandybatsman) February 7, 2021

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Everyone misses stumping. Even great keepers do but the way Pant missed that stumping of Leach off Ashwin tells me all I need to know about Pant the keeper.

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 7, 2021

A missed stumping by Pant, so now we can hear commentators finally. #INDvENG

— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) February 7, 2021

Pant shouldn't have missed that stumping and all is fine but asking for Pant to be played as a pure batsman in ridiculous. Again and again it comes back to the same point. Cant have a specialist WK who cant contribute with the bat.

— BALAJI (@deep_extracover) February 7, 2021

Rishabh Pant needs to spend some time with Dhoni to work on his wicket-keeping

— Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai_ET) February 7, 2021

Rishav Pant is pathetic. Missed a catch, given byes , missed stumping chance. Overall ,I feel, he is a liability. Wriddhiman Saha should have got the opportunity. He is a good second wicket keeper.

— Shubhro Banerjee (@shubhro1963) February 7, 2021