Irfan Pathan has applauded Rishabh Pant for doing well in his game. Pant scored a fifty off just 28 deliveries in India’s second innings of the ongoing pink ball Test against Sri Lanka. In the process, he surpassed Kapil Dev’s record of the fastest Test fifty (30 deliveries) by an Indian in Tests.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Irfan Pathan said: “There is a method for sure, but what has impressed me the most is that there has been improvement in his method. Earlier he used to play shots only on the leg side but now plays shots on the off-side as well. He now tries to find a way to stay on the pitch, doesn’t only try to hit. The record-breaking knock we saw, it was not that he didn’t play a defensive shot at all. The defence was also there.”

Rishabh Pant scored has scored 40, including seven fours and two sixes. And, Irfan Pathan predicted that Rishabh Pant could break MS Dhoni’s record of most Test runs by an Indian wicketkeeper-batter as well. However, Dhoni aggregated 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 in 90 Tests. Pant has amassed 1920 runs at an average of 40.85 in 30 Tests as well.

He said: “He is just a 24-year-old boy, and at such a young age, so much improvement has been seen in his cricket. I believe by the time he finishes his cricket career, there is still a long way to go, you will see him play 10 years of international cricket for sure, he will become India’s highest run-scoring wicketkeeper-batter in Tests, I have no doubt about that.”

“He scored extremely valuable runs on a difficult pitch; there was a question mark on his consistency earlier for sure, but we are now regularly seeing a maturing young player. A gift is coming his way from Kapil Paaji,” Irfan Pathan concluded.