After a lot of debate and discussions, Rishabh Pant did make his Indian Test debut in the third Test at Nottingham and looked assured behind the stumps. Although he made a record of sorts for claiming the maximum number of catches on Test debut, there were instances when he looked out of place when keeping against Jasprit Bumrah.
And then, he came charging down the track and slapped Adil Rashid for a six over long-on in only his second ball. This has left former Indian wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer impressed and he concedes that he sees a lot of himself in Pant.
"I'm very impressed, he has tremendous reflexes," he said on Sunday.
'He didn't show any nerves'
"I love to see youngsters make a mark. He didn't show any nerves and hit the second ball for a six. My first three balls I faced in Test cricket, I hit them for fours, but that was out of sheer nervousness," he added.
However, Engineer said that the young man has to make minor arrangements to his keeping techniques and needs to be more focused, more so in England. His only blemish at Trent Bridge came when he dropped Jos Buttler before lunch on day 4 off Jasprit Bumrah.
"He gets up too soon. One must rise with the ball. He also positioned himself a bit too back, the slip cordon also," Engineer observed.
The former keeper also noted that he needs to keep low and try to stay forward in order to convert half chances as these then make a difference in the end.
India won the third Test match in Nottingham with a convincing margin of 203 runs, and almost all the boxes were ticked. Pant made his debut as he replaced Dinesh Karthik in the squad and looked settled. However, he now needs to contribute more with the bat and displayed good discipline in the first innings.
The fourth Test of this riveting series commences on August 30 at Southampton.
