Parthiv was chosen for his keeping skills and his experience: Anil Kumble

Rishabh Pant may be playing in a ‘Bradmaneque’ form in the domestic cricket season this year. But, all his antics with the bat could not help him break into the test team. The 19-year-old keeper-batsman from Delhi has been creating ripples his aggressive stroke play and has blasted the fastest ever century in Ranji Trophy, days after he had helped himself to a triple century against Maharashtra at the Wankhede.

However, chief coach Anil Kumble feels that Parthiv Patel’s experience as well as better “keeping skills” have enabled him to make a comeback into Indian Test side after eight long years.

“Parthiv has been really consistent both with his keeping as well as his batting. That’s why Parthiv was chosen. Rishabh has certainly shown the exuberance a young cricketer can bring in. He has shown a lot of batting skills. He has obviously got a lot of runs in domestic cricket. But Parthiv was chosen for his keeping skills and his experience,” Kumble said today, giving a peek into his thought process on Patel’s selection.

The coach also made it clear that Wriddhiman Saha still remains the first-choice keeper of the Test team which may well mean that Mohali will be only chance for Parthiv to prove himself.

“I think it’s unfortunate that Saha is missing out in this Test match. He suffered a strain on the final day of the Test match. We wanted him to play. He was obviously in the starting the line-up but yesterday’s scans showed there was a little bit of tendonitis. That’s why it was better that we gave him a break from this Test match,” Kumble briefed about the No, 1 keeper’s injury.

Kumble also praised Pant’s talent and made it clear as to why Dinesh Karthik failed to make the cut. It’s because he is no longer keeping wickets. The new selection committee has put some obvious protocols in place in which Karthik could not fit in.

“Regarding Dinesh, at the moment, I don’t think he is keeping wickets for Tamil Nadu and I am not sure why that is a case. But, at the moment, from what I gather he is not keeping wickets.”

It was learnt that Karthik has a hand injury which prompted him to purely play as a batsman. N Jagadeesan has been keeping wickets for Tamil Nadu.

Having travelled to Mohali from Hubbali in Karnataka, where Gujarat were playing Mumbai, Parthiv expectedly spent more time than others at the optional net session which was attended by the likes of skipper Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami. He did separate routines to hone his glovework under the watchful eyes of fielding coach R Sridhar.

At first, it was flat catches as Sridhar hit the tennis balls. A few popped out of his gloves as the routine went for around 15 minutes. Parthiv then moved on to two different drills specific to keeping against spinners.