Rishabh Pant has been fast rising in world cricket across formats. Hailed initially as a T20I specialist for his aggressive batting, Pant has, over his short career so far, has proven to be an impressive batter in the longer format as well. And even though the India star is presently not part of the ongoing tour of Zimbabwe, a former captain of Zimbabwe, Dave Houghton, reserved the ultimate praise for the youngster, hailing him as "one of the greats" of the game.
Speaking to CricketNext on the sidelines of the India series, Houghton, a Zimbabwe legend himself despite only featuring in 22 Tests and 63 ODIs for the team, gave his first thought on Pant. “Well, he is certainly a lot better than I was, particularly as a wicketkeeper. I mean he is a fantastic player to watch,” he said.
Pant has been rested for the Zimbabwe series and will feature next in the impending Asia Cup tournament that will begin from later this week in the UAE. Houghton feels that Pant has the ability to dominate all three formats of the game in the coming years.
“Nowadays, obviously Pant is really well built for the T20 format and the fifty overs but I am sure that he is a great Test player as well. He’s got so much innovation, so much power and he looks like he plays with a smile on his face all the time, again one of the greats produced by India,” Hiughton said, who only earlier in June replaced former India opener Lalchand Rajput as the new coach of the Zimbabwe side.
{{/usCountry}}“Nowadays, obviously Pant is really well built for the T20 format and the fifty overs but I am sure that he is a great Test player as well. He’s got so much innovation, so much power and he looks like he plays with a smile on his face all the time, again one of the greats produced by India,” Hiughton said, who only earlier in June replaced former India opener Lalchand Rajput as the new coach of the Zimbabwe side.
{{/usCountry}}Houghton also hailed India's bench strength and addmitted it as a happy headache for the selectors to pick India's XI for any series or tournament.
“I think that is the biggest problem India is facing at the international level, how do you pick your best 11? How many people do you play with? Fortunately, you play so much cricket and so many tours that you are able to change your players accordingly,” he said.