Rishabh Pant shouldn’t try copying MS Dhoni, he has a rare skill set: Kirmani

After scoring a scintillating Test hundred in England at Oval, Rishabh Pant proved to be worth keeping. He smashed 92 runs off 84 balls and punished the Caribbean bowling attack on the second day in Rajkot Test match. He got so many praises for his work on the striking end but no one praised the Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant and Syed Kirmani, the former Indian wicket-keeper is also one of them. Syed Kirmani wants Rishabh to check his footwork behind the stumps, which is needed beyond his batting skills.

He is a young talent, but he needs to learn the basics of wicket-keeping skills said the world cup winning wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani. On the one hand, Rishabh is looking good with the bat, but he conceded byes in his debut match which exposed the limitation of Rishabh as a wicket-keeper.

Syed Kirmani praised the naïve choice of the selectors, and he is impressed with the new energy in the squad but what more Syed is asking for, is a better footwork to save runs behind the stumps. Referring to Pant’s work at the wicket-keeping end Syed quoted him “Cradle of wicket-keeping”.

“He has to be ready before the bowler takes a turn, crouching down- the basics of Wicket-keeping. He has to be crouching down and wait till the ball pitches then react. He has to learn to move with the bounce, swing. A Wicketkeeper is judged by his ability to standing up to spinners. It is easier to understand pace since the one will get a lot of time to move and anticipate.” said the former wicket-keeper of India.

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He offered some tips to Rishabh Pant and said, wicketkeepers have a fraction of a second to judge and react. They have to synchronise step-by-step with the pace and movement of the ball for a good collection.

Kirmani’s take on MS Dhoni

“Dhoni is undoubtedly the rare talent, and Rishabh shouldn’t try to copy him. Youngsters shouldn’t imitate him”, said Syed Kirmani.

Earlier, Rishabh said he is taking advice from MS Dhoni which helped him a lot.