“He is somebody who can change the game in 40 minutes”: Rohit Sharma on Pant

After India won the second test against Sri Lanka, the Indian captain Rohit Sharma has applauded both the batting as well as keeping skills of the dynamic wicket-keeping batsman Rishabh Pant. On a challenging Bengaluru track, which had a lot of assistance for the spinners, Pant played two very impactful quick-fire knocks in both innings, playing a crucial role in the home side’s success. 

Rohit Sharma reckons that counter-attacking is an integral part of Rishabh’s batting. Obviously, he gets out while attacking at times, but the Indian captain understands that it’s his way of batting and has assured that he has been given the freedom to execute what he is best at. Rohit reckons Pant to be someone who can change the course of the match within a few minutes by virtue of his dynamic stroke play.

“His batting is his batting. We know how he bats, and as a team, we just want to give him that freedom to bat in the way he wants to bat. But also keeping in mind certain game situations where the game is going, we have also conveyed that to him, but we want to stick with his game plan as a team. It just seems to get better and better-his game plans”, Rohit said. 

“There will be times when you will smash your head and say, ‘why did he play that shot’ but again, we need to be ready to accept that with him when he bats. And he is somebody who can change the game in 40 minutes”, he further added. 

Moreover, his keeping skill seemed to be immensely improved in the Sri Lanka tests, and according to Rohit, it was the best version of Rishabh Pant, the keeper, he had ever seen. Also, the Indian keeper was a lot more assured while giving his suggestions to opt for the DRS on certain occasions and thus helped the team to the utmost extent in this regard, which has earned high praises from the Indian skipper. 

“And the most significant factor of his in this series was his keeping. His keeping was the best that I have seen. He kept well when England came last year and he seems to get better every time he keeps wickets for India, so that is something that I have been very impressed with”, Rohit said. 

“And also, the DRS calls seem to be making the right calls. I have made it very clear with Rishabh what I want. There are certain aspects of the game that I have told him to look into and that’s about it. DRS calls are not something you will always get right. There will be times when you will be making wrong calls. But that’s absolutely okay,” he further added.