Ponting advises Rishabh Pant to improve his wicket keeping skills

Last updated on January 19th, 2021 at 07:10 am

Ponting advises Rishabh: During the first day of the third test between India and Australia, Indian wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant disappointed cricket experts after his series of dropping catches behind the wicket. 

Of course this did not go unnoticed by former captain Ricky Ponting who raised questions on Pant’s ability as a wicket-keeper. Ponting further went on to say that since 2018, no other wicket keeper has dropped as many catches as the 21-year-old. Another expert and one of India’s best wicket-keepers, Sadanand Vishwanath also agreed with Ponting and said that there indeed are a few areas where Pant had to improve to become a better gloveman. 

Day 1 of the series in Sydney Cricket Ground witnesses Pant fumble not once but twice as he dropped Pucovski twice in three overs. It was Ashwin’s delivery where he forced an edge on Pucovski but Pant realised it way late, which resulted in him dropping the catch. 

“Lot of his problems are down to his footwork. Sometimes, he is up too quickly. Sometimes he is slow. As far as possible, it’s good to rise with the ball. There is a fine line. You don’t want to jerk up, shoot up too quickly. You also don’t want to rise too slowly,” said Vishwanath. 

One such catch is easy to be neglected but when the batsman is looking in a good form and then the wicket-keeper again fails to impress then it does not go well with cricket lovers. Mohammed Siraj was the one who gave another opportunity to Pant as during his delivery, Pucovski mis read the ball and hit it up the air and Pant, having ran backwards, could not catch it. 

Ponting said while talking to cricket.com.au,“The one’s (dropped catches) today are two that should be taken, simple as that. It’s probably lucky for Rishabh that Pucovski didn’t go on and make a big hundred or a double hundred and looking at the wicket, it looks like an unbelievable surface.”

Ricky Ponting has worked with Pant during his time as coach for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. He knows Pant’s shortcoming better than anyone at the moment. He also spoke from Pant’s point of view when he said that Rishabh would have lost those catches. 

He said that the only point where one can lay hands on Pant was his keeping skills. Ponting further pointed out that Pant needs to do some work on his keeping skills.