New Delhi:
Rishabh Pant has been appointed as the first choice keeper across all formats in India's current tour of the West Indies. Pant is seen as the heir apparent as Virat Kohli's side prepare for life after MS Dhoni's retirement. The left-hander has been impressive in the Test format with his batting and keeping while in the ODIs and T20Is, his efforts have been best work at progress. During the Twenty20 International series which India won 3-0, Pant failed in the first two matches but broke MS Dhoni's record for the highest individual score for an Indian keeper when he hammered an unbeaten 65 in the Guyana match. After the washout at Guyana, the Indian team headed to Port of Spain for the second ODI.
Before the match, Pant uploaded a video on his Instagram handle where he is seen converting the hotel corridor into a practice venue. Kuldeep Yadav is bowling to Pant and the Delhi youngster is polishing his wicketkeeping skills. Pant captioned the video, "Where ? When ? What ? Who ? .... No sorry ... I only know the "WHY" :) #passion #cricketforlife."
Virat Kohli, the skipper, has clearly said that Pant is the future. "We are looking at him (Pant) as the future. He has got a lot of skill and lot of talent. It is about giving him some space and not putting too much of pressure. He’s come a long way since he’s started. It’s about winning and finishing games like these. In international cricket, you need to tackle pressure differently. If he plays like this regularly, we will see his potential shine for India,” Kohli said.
Prior to the tour of West Indies, Pant had expressed his love for Test cricket. "Yes, maybe it did help that I played Test cricket first. I got a good experience of playing Test cricket. People used to say that Test cricket is the most difficult. So I got to learn a lot, how to build the innings, playing down the order and how to bat with the tail. There is learning every day in Test cricket. Especially when you have to walk out to bat after having fielded the entire day. That is a different experience. In ODIs and T20Is especially, things happen very fast. I just focus on what I have to do and what I have to learn every day," Pant said.
