India may have lost the rescheduled fifth and final Test against England at Edgbaston by seven wickets, Rishabh Pant was the one Indian star who put up a spectacular show throughout the match. It won't be an exaggeration to say that Rishabh Pant was outstanding both with the bat and the gloves in Birmingham. In the first innings, the 24-year-old left-hander went on to slam the fastest hundred by an Indian wicketkeeper, breaking the legendary MS Dhoni's record as he completed his century in only 89 balls. In the second essay, Rishabh Pant struck a solid 57 and, in the process, became just the second Indian wicketkeeper batter to score a ton and a fifty in the same Test, thus equalling Farokh Engineer‘s 49-year-old feat who accomplished a similar milestone against England in Mumbai in 1973. Rishabh Pant's display at Edgbaston was hailed by noted commentator and former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar who dubbed him the future of Indian cricket. Sanjay Manjrekar was also impressed with Rishabh Pant's wicketkeeping which he claimed has improved significantly.
“He has established himself as a potential great that we are watching. 5 hundreds and just one at home and rest away from home is just incredible. But I want to just talk about his keeping, a lot has been spoken about his batting,” said Sanjay Manjrekar.
“I just love how seriously he has taken that job. Because, after doing well with the bat, you can sometimes ease off. I was a little skeptical about his ability as a keeper, especially in these kind of conditions,” Manjrekar added.
Comparing Rishabh Pant's wicketkeeping with former India captain MS Dhoni, Sanjay Manjrekar declared that the left-hander's growth behind the wickets was remarkable.
“The big news for India is the growth of Pant the wicketkeeper. You don't see him chattering much around the stumps. He has taken the job very seriously, and his improvement has been remarkable, just like Dhoni,” the noted cricket expert pointed out.
Meanwhile, Farokh Engineer was in awe of Rishabh Pant's performance at Edgbaston and even promised to attend the Indian team's ODIs and T20Is against England because he wanted to congratulate the Uttarakhand-born wicketkeeper-batter in person.
“I am delighted for Rishabh. He is a fantastic cricketer. I thought maybe MS Dhoni would have done it, but I am surprised that it took so long for an Indian wicketkeeper to equal that record,” Farokh Engineer told Sportstar.
“I have always thought of Rishabh as a fabulous batter, and a fabulous young man, even though I have met him only once. He has got the measure and responsibility because earlier, he would throw away his wicket so many times. I used to tell myself, ‘He is so talented, why doesn't he just play the right shot?' He has got such good eyes and is such a good entertainer,” he added.
“I will be there at the ground for the first two ODIs at The Oval and Lord’s later this month and when I see Pant, I will give him a big hug and say, ‘Keep it up! Next time, I want you to score a hundred in each innings'. The way he is going about his business, I am glad that he has been given more responsibility and he certainly is taking his game very seriously,” Farokh Engineer commented.
Farokh Engineer also shared his thoughts about Rishabh Pant's wicketkeeping skills, and as per his analysis, his skills behind the wickets have improved in leaps and bounds. According to him, Rishabh Pant was now an asset to the Rohit Sharma-led side.
“He is such a fine young man and I must say, he has improved a lot in his wicketkeeping as well. Dhoni wasn’t a great wicketkeeper when he started, but look at the way he improved. Similarly, Rishabh is working on his wicketkeeping very hard and I can see that. But as a package, just like Dhoni, Rishabh is a tremendous asset for India, who can score a hundred like that against a good bowling unit,” Farokh Engineer explained.
India head coach Rahul Dravid too was going gaga about Rishabh Pant's batting in Test cricket.
“He is doing really well in Test cricket. He keeps increasing everyone's heart rates time and again with some of his shots but we are now used to do that,” Rahul Dravid said in the post-match press conference.
“We accept that he may play some shots at time that we think he maybe shouldn't play. I think we need to accept that a little because the way he plays, he can turn a Test around and he did that in this match and in South Africa. We can also see that he is thoughtful and does not take a wild swing at every ball,” the legendary Indian batter concluded.
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