Rishabh Pant to prepare for Windies series by keeping on NCA turners

Though he excelled with the bat in the final Test at the Oval against England to give India a hope of an outside victory, youngster Rishabh Pant wasn’t impressive with his wicket-keeping. But the 20-year-old is no less confident and is now aiming to better his glovework at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) ahead of the short series against the Windies next month.

Pant is likely to engage in simulation training at the NCA by keeping on turning tracks to prepare for the two-Test series against the Caribbeans. The first of the two matches will begin on October 4 in Rajkot after which the action will shift to Hyderabad.

“In India, the wickets are expected to be different from England or may be like the one at the Oval. I plan to visit NCA before the series and keep on tracks where there will be roughs,” News18 cited reports quoting Pant during an interaction on the sidelines of a Vijay Hazare Trophy game.

A number of former India wicket-keepers, including the current chief selector MSK Prasad, have given their reviews on Pant’s keeping and almost all of them believe that the youngster needs improvement. Prasad even said in a recent interview that the Indian cricket board is trying to arrange for an exclusive keeping session for Pant.

The Delhi player got a break in the third Test at Trent Bridge in the recent series when out-of-form and injured Dinesh Karthik was dropped. He took five catches in his very first Test that India won and then came up with a hundred in the fifth Test when chips were down.

Expressing his gratitude for Prasad, Pant said: “I am very happy that he (MSK Prasad) wants to help me out with my keeping. As a youngster, it is my duty to keep learning, improve at every given opportunity. That should be my endeavour.”

About keeping against spinners and pacers

“I have kept up to senior spinners (Ashwin and Jadeja) in the nets apart from the Tests in England. Like Oval strip, where Jaddu bhai was bowling, it felt like an India pitch. The ball was turning and on the fourth and fifth day, there were spots,” Pant was quoted as saying.

Pant came under criticism for conceding over 70 byes in the series though a lot of them were beyond his reach to stop.

“Obviously, you can get frustrated as a wicketkeeper. Maybe all those byes were not my fault but if someone is not watching the match, he would look only at the scorecard. Only those who saw the match would know that some of those were out of my reach.”

Pant said he gave his hundred per cent while keeping against Indian pacers whose speed remained decent and the ball seamed after leaving the stumps.

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