Former Indian spinner, Dilip Joshi has an answer to the debate between better wicket-keeper batsman between Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha. Dilip has termed Saha as the best wicket-keeper batsman in the country and insisted that he should be the team’s first-choice gloveman. As for Pant, Doshi did not have the best of things to say.

During a recent chat with Sportstar, Dilip said, “I was shocked to see Rishabh Pant keeping the wickets in New Zealand. I would play the best wicketkeeper in India first, and that’s Wriddhiman Saha. He has proven his mettle as a wicketkeeper-batsman as well. [But] wicketkeeping is such an important position that I would really not mess around with it. Pant has [been] spoken about [a lot] by many critics, and I’m sure he has a future, but if I were him, I would perfect my wicketkeeping technique first before donning the India cap at the Test level.”

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Showering praises on the Indian all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja, Doshi called him a good all-round cricketer but reckons his bowling has reached a different level. He figured a few years ago that with his bowling, Jadeja will move ahead but unfortunately for Doshi, his prediction regarding the allrounder hasn’t quite come true.

Talking about him, Dilip said, “I say this only because a spinner, as he continues playing, learns his craft more and more. And he develops certain attributes which he hasn’t had before. Because of the confidence Jadeja has developed, and by continuous exposure at the highest level, you have to improve, and when you don’t improve, you go back. I think he’s an outstanding cricketer overall undoubtedly. He can reach further heights by focussing on his bowling. To me, he is a bowling all-rounder, like Kapil Dev.”

Being a left-arm spinner himself, Doshi also examined Kuldeep Yadav’s growing ineffectiveness against a quality bowler.

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Joshi explained, “As far as Kuldeep is concerned, I feel he’s too slow in the air. And that’s because at the time of bowling, his non-bowling arm falls away and he opens up. We start talking big before the boy even establishes in the true sense. Taking a lot of wickets in T20 doesn’t establish you, this is the futility of the whole thing. Kuldeep will have to develop a big heart and become a thinking bowler.”