Rishabh Pant had a bad day out in the field. And, he was brought under the scanner for his sloppy wicketkeeping. Now, his IPL franchise coach and former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting have laid a harsh opinion over the poor wicketkeeping skills of the Delhiite.
Since his debut, Rishabh Pant has failed to justify his position in Team India. Neither he has done well as a batsman nor as a wicketkeeper. He was looked down on as an appropriate replacement for the former world-cup winning skipper MS Dhoni. But, he has barely done anything to attract and impress the selectors.
He has lost his place in white-ball cricket. Also, he was not picked in the 1st Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21. The team-management gave preference to Wriddhiman Saha over Rishabh Pant. But, the poor form of the former forced management to provide Rishabh Pant with an opportunity.
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Ricky Ponting Uses Some Harsh Words For Rishabh Pant After Day-1 Of Sydney Test
On Day-1 Rishabh Pant once again displayed that he has a lot of work to do in his wicketkeeping. He dropped a couple of easy catches of Will Pucovski, who went onto score his maiden Test fifty in international cricket. Ricky Ponting, the former Aussie skipper said that Pant should have taken those catches. He asserted that the Indian southpaw was lucky that the Aussie debutant didn’t score a big knock with the willow.
“The ones (dropped catches) today are two that should be taken, simple as that. It’s probably lucky for Rishabh that Pucovski didn’t go on and make a big hundred or a double hundred and looking at the wicket, it looks like an unbelievable surface,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.
Ponting mocked Rishabh Pant and said that the latter has dropped the most number of catches than any other any wicketkeeper in the world in the early phase of his career.
“I’m sure when Rishabh put those catches down, he would have thought the worst and ‘here we go, he’s really going to make me pay’ but (Pucovski) didn’t today,” Ponting added. “I’ve said it all along, the knock-on Rishabh is always going to be on his keeping. Since his debut in Test cricket, he’s dropped more catches than any other keeper in the world. That highlights he has got some work to do with his keeping.”
