Mohammad Azharuddin feels Rishabh Pant should be allowed to keep wickets regularly

Team India won the first T20I against the Windies comfortably to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series in Kolkata. But what left perplexed was Dinesh Karthik donning the gloves ahead of Rishabh Pant in MS Dhoni’s absence. Many have tipped the youngster to be Dhoni’s long-term successor and is also likely to travel to England for the World Cup. Even the former Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin felt the same as he backed Pant to come good behind the wickets.

Azharuddin rang the bell at the Eden Gardens before the start of the match on Sunday after which the action started. After the end of the game, while fronting the media, he believed that Rohit Sharma should’ve allowed Pant to don the gloves behind the wickets. He also went on to say that if the cricketer is able to keep in England in Tests then why not in the shortest format.

“One got to bank on Pant. If he is good enough to keep wickets in the Test matches in England then why not T20? And no doubt that he showed better skills in England than Karthik,” he was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

He needs to improve a lot though

However, Mohammad Azharuddin also admitted the fact that Rishabh Pant should improve his skills as the wicketkeeper but he needs to keep more for that to happen. “I honestly feel Rishabh should’ve kept wickets today. When you are a keeper, you should keep wickets. He is a good player. He has done well. The more he keeps, he will learn. I think his keeping needs to improve a lot though,” Azhar further added.

As far as the match is concerned, Team India raced past the Windies easily thanks to Kuldeep Yadav’s exceptional spin bowling and Azhar was all praise of the chinaman bowler.

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