Chandigarh, july 23
The BCCI senior selection committee has made it clear that Rishabh Pant is their preferred wicketkeeper for all three formats for the next month’s tour of West Indies with the future of MS Dhoni still uncertain.
BCCI chief selector MSK Prasad said, “We had certain roadmap and plans till the World Cup. Subsequently, we’ve laid down a few more plans and we thought of giving as many opportunities as possible to Rishabh Pant and to see he is groomed.”
With the two Tests in the Caribbean kicking off the new World Test Championships, India named a full-strength 16-man squad for the series in which experienced wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha was recalled after being out injured for more than a year.
Saha has been brought back into the set-up following his full recovery since suffering an injury during the tour of South Africa in 2018. His replacement Pant, 21, has used his chances well and hit a century in the Oval Test last year while also smashing an unbeaten 159 against Australia in Sydney in January.
The 34-year-old Bengal cricketer, however, would not be the first choice wicketkeeper in the Windies Tests, and with Pant delivering in the last Test series in England and Australia, chances are bleak that Saha will find a place in the playing XI.
Prasad said Saha would come into the picture only when the team management decides to rest Pant or when he suffers an injury. Therefore, the tour to the Caribbean Islands doesn’t guarantee Saha a chance to represent the country. And with another rookie wicketkeeper, KS Bharat, doing well, this could be the last opportunity for Saha.
Saha’s batting record is not something which could guarantee him a place in the Test team. What made him a permanent member of the Test set-up following Dhoni’s retirement from the longer format in 2015 was the wicketkeeping skills he possessed. And even now, his skills are superior to that of Pant. However, what the team requires at the moment is not just a wicketkeeper but a wicketkeeper-batsman, someone who can score at a brisk pace and take on the opposition, and Pant is someone who Virat Kohli wants in his mission to make India, not only a formidable Test side at home, but also on foreign soil.
