‘One good Test match doesn't make you a good wicketkeeper’- Michael Vaughan on Rishabh Pant needing to get better

Michael Vaughan, the former England cricketer, reckons that Rishabh Pant needs to work on his keeping skills and improve his technique over the time period. In the ongoing Test series against the Three Lions, Pant has been excellent with the bat in hand, and his keeping was fairly up to mark in the two Tests thus far at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

However, Vaughan, who has played 82 Tests, 86 ODIs, and two T20Is for England from 1999 to 2008, stated that one good match doesn’t make Pant a good wicketkeeper. In the second Test at the Chepauk, Pant took two incredible catches and affected two superlative stumpings. He didn’t look in much stress while keeping to Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel on a rank-turner.

Rishabh Pant needs to continue to work and get better: Vaughan

“We know that he’s active because he’s always a little bit chirpy and that’s fine. But you’ve got to be able to catch the ball. His keeping in this game has been very, very good, and that for me has been a massive positive for the Indian team.

“He needs to continue to work and get better and catch the majority of the balls that come his way and do it with better technique,” Vaughan was quoted as saying during an interaction with Cricbuzz.

Vaughan, however, was of the opinion that Pant’s keeping skills have improved to a large extent. Nevertheless, he was clear-cut in saying that India can’t be ‘the best in the world for over a generation’ if their keeping keeps dropping catches.

“I think he’s getting better all the time and he’s probably doing a lot of work on the training ground – he’s still got a long way to go to become a real, consistent keeper. One good Test match behind the stumps doesn’t make you a good wicketkeeper. He’s got to do it again,” Vaughan added.

With the bat in hand, Pant has had an incredible outing thus far. On pitches, not conducive for stroke-play, the southpaw has shown his value in the purest format of the sport. In the two Tests until now, Pant has scored 168 runs at an average and strike-rate of 56 and 86.15 respectively.