Rishabh Pant will become India's highest-scoring wicketkeeper in Tests: Irfan Pathan

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has lavished massive praises on Rishabh Pant following the wicketkeeper-batter’s stellar show against Sri Lanka. The southpaw was instrumental in India’s 2-0 triumph in the Test series as the Lankan bowlers endured a hard time against him. Pant scored 185 runs in three innings and that too at a strike rate of over 120.

In fact, during the second Test in Bengaluru, Pant slammed a 28-ball half-century, the fastest by any Indian in Test matches. As he was impressive behind the stumps as well, Pant was named the Player of the Series. Irfan was among many to laud the youngster’s stellar show and he even made a bold prediction. The former cricketer reckons Pant will surpass MS Dhoni’s to become India’s most-successful wicketkeeper-batter in Tests.

Rishabh Pant still has a long way to go: Irfan Pathan

“He is just a 24-year-old boy, and at such a young age, so much improvement has been seen in his cricket. I believe by the time he finishes his cricket career, there is still a long way to go, you will see him play 10 years of international cricket for sure, he will become India’s highest run-scoring wicketkeeper-batter in Tests, I have no doubt about that,” Irfan said on Star Sports.

For the unversed, former Indian captain MS Dhoni ended his Test career with 4876 runs in 90 games. At 24, Pant has already slammed 1920 runs in 30 matches in the longest format. Hence, there are extremely high chances of Pathan’s prediction coming true. Meanwhile, Australian legend Adam Gilchrist holds the record of most runs as wicketkeeper in Tests.

His tally reads 5570 runs in 96 Tests. Hence, it will be interesting to see whether Pant can go past him. Meanwhile, Irfan also hailed Pant for playing calculative shots instead of just rash hitting. “He now tries to find a way to stay on the pitch, doesn’t only try to hit. The record-breaking knock we saw, it was not that he didn’t play a defensive shot at all. The defence was also there,” he added.