Former Indian cricketer Saba Karim said that young wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will soon become a complete player that too across formats. Pant (24) has had a great start to his Test career. He averages over 40 after 29 games as well. He has also scored four tons, with three of them coming in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries. However, he has struggled in the white-ball formats as well.
According to Karim, who himself was a former wicketkeeper, it is only a matter of time before Rishabh Pant seals his place in all three formats. While speaking during a discussion on him on the Khelneeti podcast, he shared his thoughts.
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He asserted: “We are seeing Rishabh Pant grow. He is having a big impact and his value is slowly rising in the team. I feel he still needs to evolve a bit in white-ball cricket. He needs to achieve a lot. But in Test cricket, he is constantly improving and is adding a lot of value to the team. I feel he will soon be a complete player across formats, which will be very good for India.”
Rishabh Pant has so far featured in 24 ODIs, scoring 715 runs at an average of 32.50 and a strike rate of 109.32. He has so far played 43 T20Is, amassing 683 runs at a strike rate of 125.78 as well. While praising Pant, Saba Karim also applauded former India captain MS Dhoni for his stunning role as wicketkeeper-batters in Indian cricket. And, as per the former selector, Dhoni was India’s first keeper who was also a match-winner as well.
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Speaking about Dhoni’s contribution, Saba Karim explained: “From an Indian perspective, he has had a massive impact. After MS Dhoni came in, the Indians started feeling that they have found a match-winner. With all due respect, before Dhoni India did not have a wicketkeeper who was a match-winner as well. And he was a match-winner not only in white-ball but red-ball cricket as well. When Gilchrist started succeeding for Australia, India always thought we should also have someone like him and Dhoni proved to be the one.”
