Opinion

Farokh Engineer hails ‘vastly improved’ Rishabh Pant

Written by Vishwas Gupta

Rishabh Pant has been earning plaudits from all corners for his heroics and the latest to join the bandwagon is former India wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer. Engineer was a vocal critic of Pant’s poor work behind the stumps in his first Test series against England in 2018 but he has been left impressed by the left-hander’s progress in the past few months.

Engineer admitted Pant was far from being a finished product behind the stumps when he first broke into the Indian side but has worked hard like former India captain MS Dhoni to improve vastly. The former keeper also reckoned that the explosive left-hander reminded him of his playing days.

“Rishabh Pant reminds me of my younger days. He has vastly improved. He originally had some technical flaws. But he’s practiced hard like MS Dhoni. When he came on the scene, he wasn’t a great keeper. But he practiced and worked on his mistakes,” Engineer told SportsKeeda in an interview.

“Rishabh has a wonderful eye. A wonderful sense of balance and timing. These are the three ingredients for a wicket-keeper or a good cricketer,” he added.

The left-hander will be looking to end the England Test series on a high with a big knock in the final fourth Test in Ahmedabad.

“Rishabh Pant will be successful at whatever sport he plays. Because once you have a sense of timing, balance and anticipation you can play any sport. Wicket-keeping certainly needs these three things, and Rishabh Pant has all of them,” said Engineer as he praised the youngster.

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Vishwas Gupta