Former Team India player Deep Dasgupta said current India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is the key to the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. India will play two Test matches, starting with the opener in Galle on August 15. Pant has been one of India’s key Test batters for the last few years, especially against spin. Despite never having played a Test in Sri Lanka, he averages an impressive 61.66 against them in Tests as well.
Talking about the importance of Rishabh Pant, Dasgupta said on his YouTube channel, “He is very important for India in this series. Rishabh is a proper cricket geek who can talk cricket for 24 hours. Whenever I’ve spoken to him, it’s always been about cricket. Though from the outside, he probably looks different, he’s a proper cricket guy. He is India’s match-winner, and it’ll be important for the Indian batters not to be too defensive and take the fight to the opposition bowlers.”
“Wellalage and Jayasuriya are both left-arm spinners, which makes Pant the batter even more important for India. Rishabh already has a reputation when he enters the crease. On top of that, it’s enhanced when there is a left-arm spinner bowling. Pant’s presence will be very important for India in this series,” he added again.
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Deep Dasgupta also commented on veteran opener KL Rahul practising the sweep shot against the rough ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka as well. He also believes the sweep shot will be important to the success of the Indian batters in the series and also urged everyone to focus on attacking the Sri Lankan spinners.
“The practice pitches must have been good for batting without much turn. So he (Rahul) must have wanted to bat on a surface with turn and rough. Sri Lanka’s bowlers will likely bowl in the rough in the actual match. He isn’t someone who plays the sweep shot much, but he was practicing that shot hard. It is important for all batters to have that option against the turning ball,” said Dasgupta.
“Rahul was also practicing giving himself room and going over extra cover because if you don’t have attacking shots and the pitch is a turner, it becomes hard to survive. Also, the bowlers can keep bowling in the same area if the batters don’t attack. So it’s clear that he and the Indian batters probably want to play more shots and not go completely into a defensive mode,” Deep Dasgupta concluded.
