'He can give you heart attacks, heartaches, heartbreaks': R Sridhar calls Rishabh Pant a 'great package'

Pant's turnaround is one of the most remarkable ones witnessed in history of Indian cricket and Sridhar reckons what makes him such a dangerous batsman is fearlessness.

It's no secret that R Sridhar has been phenomenal in his role as the fielding coach of the Indian cricket team. Besides a few catching concerns, India's fielding has improved tremendously since he took over for the first time in 2014. Sridhar's role has been identified and appreciated by captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri alike. Heck, the fact that India have arguably the world's best fielder in Ravindra Jadeja in their side owes plenty to Sridhar.

Rishabh Pant reacts after getting out. (Getty Images)

Besides being a wonderful fielding coach, Sridhar is an extremely eloquent person. When he speaks, people around him listen carefully. Fresh off India's successful Test tour of Australia, Sridhar weighed in on Rishabh Pant, explaining how there were occasions when the 23-year-old would sacrifice his batting to work on his wicket-keeping skills. Pant has found himself in the firing line for his keeping for a couple of lapses during the Test series, but if Sridhar is to be believed, the youngster is making sure no more fingers are pointed at him as far as keeping wicket is concerned.

"There have been occasions on this tour where he sacrificed his batting to work an extra half an hour or one hour on his wicketkeeping. So, that's great news for everybody who wants to know. He is a work in progress," Sridhar said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports. "What you see is what you get with Rishabh. He can give you heart attacks; he can give you heart aches; he can give you heart breaks, but he can also give you moments that take your breath away."

Pant continued his love affair with Australia during the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, scoring a couple of very important knocks during the third and fourth Tests of the series. In the third Test at the SCG, Pant struck a blistering and counter-attacking 97, giving India a chance to chase down a target of 407. Although India escaped with an epic draw, Pant’s half-century had contributed immensely to the result.

Later, in the fourth Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, Pant produced another special knock of an unbeaten 89. He batted gallantly with the lower order and took India to a famous three-wicket win, capping off a memorable series for his team. All this, after a tumultuous year which saw Pant getting dropped from India's limited-overs set-up and getting trolled for his weight during the IPL. Pant's turnaround is one of the most remarkable ones witnessed in history of Indian cricket and Sridhar reckons what makes him such a dangerous batsman is his fearlessness.

"He is a great package, probably one of the most explosive cricketers and one of the most fearless cricketers going around. Plus, he is a left-hander, so that adds a lot of variation in the middle order. So, all in all, Rishabh Pant as a package is extremely exciting," the fielding coach said.