Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has been showing immense improvement and maturity with every game. He continued his top form with the bat and scored a quick-fire fifty on the second day of the second Test against England. He remained unbeaten on 58 as the Indian tail collapsed.
Later, he picked up two acrobatic stunners to assist Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma to dismiss Ollie Pope and Jack Leach, respectively.
India vs England 2nd Test Day 3 - LIVE!
Be it with the bat or behind the stumps, Pant caused a huge buzz with his performance on Day 2. Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta was of the opinion that the confidence with which the youngster is batting is now also rubbing onto his wicketkeeping.
“I think the way he is batting, that confidence is rubbing onto his keeping as well. Because it is, and we have all heard this before, and we have said it as well, that it is a confidence game. So, once you start feeling confident about yourself, about your skills obviously you look like a different player.
“If you look at someone like Rishabh, even in the last Test match as well, he kept really well in the second innings, the way he was moving around he looked relaxed and did not look worried, so he is not making those unnecessary movements, and because of that he has more balance in his approach and his stance,” Deep Dasgupta told Sports Today.
{{/usCountry}}“If you look at someone like Rishabh, even in the last Test match as well, he kept really well in the second innings, the way he was moving around he looked relaxed and did not look worried, so he is not making those unnecessary movements, and because of that he has more balance in his approach and his stance,” Deep Dasgupta told Sports Today.
{{/usCountry}}“Those two catches were absolutely phenomenal, and not just that, those catches were, of course, brilliant, but generally also the way he kept for those deliveries that were down the legside from Kuldeep, he was really good at that. So, all in all, he is looking really good,” he added.
On Sunday, the hosts placed themselves in a commanding position by stretching their overall lead to 249 runs at stumps. In reply to India’s 329, England were all out for just 134 - their lowest ever first-innings score in India.
At the close of play, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara were batting on 25 and 7 respectively, as India reached 54 for 1 at stumps.